High Winds On The High Seas
by Tactition101
Summary: When I 'died' in a car crash I never expected I'd have the chance to end up in the One Piece world. There's just one problem, all of my memories of the story line are now gone, with only the words Straw Hat Pirates to give me a clue of what I'm supposed to do. Still, at least I got an incredibly useful Devil Fruit out of the deal. Logia Version
1. Chapter 1

High Winds On The High Seas

Summary: When I 'died' in a car crash I never expected I'd have the chance to end up in the One Piece world. There's just one problem, all of my memories of the story line are now gone, with only the words Straw Hat Pirates to give me a clue of what I'm supposed to do. Still, at least I got an incredibly useful Devil Fruit out of the deal. Logia Version

1\. Gonna Be An Airhead

Story Start: Our Universe

The area around me was a mess. A blown-out tire from the front of a semi had caused it to careen out of control, taking out five different cars within the first five seconds of the accident and it had only gotten worse from there. I was on the tail end of the first twenty seconds and thanks to my pretty good reflexes had somehow managed to put my little Ford Ranger into a tail spin so that the back end had gotten crumpled and not me. Once my head had stopped ringing, I quickly got out of the cab from the passenger side and scrabbled to the side of the road, glad that I tended to stay in the fast lane whenever I went on freeways and highways simply on principle.

Screeching tires drew my attention as yet another car couldn't stop in time and I saw the mini-van slam into one of the already crumpled wrecks. Seeing the flames that started in both vehicles, I cursed before I rushed back to my truck's still open cab and flipped the back of the passenger seat forward to expose the small fire extinguisher and wonder-bar (mini crowbar) behind the seat. Grabbing both, I quickly rushed over and pulled the pin on the extinguisher, dousing the flames in its foam. Imminent explosions diverted, I helped the passengers get out of the cars only to discover that the driver of the car the mini-van had hit had his leg pinned under twisted metal. Thanking my foresight to grab the wonder-bar, I began prying the metal away from his leg, adrenalin aiding my already not so unimpressive strength and after about thirty seconds, the driver was just able to get his leg out. I had just enough time to wince at the mangled look of his ankle before I threw his left arm over my shoulder and began making my way back to the side of the road.

We were just beginning to pass the hood of my truck when yet again I heard tires screeching and I saw another car squealing as it came towards us too fast to stop. Tossing the driver the last few feet to the side of the road, I made to jump as well only to get hit by the car in the area of the driver side headlight, the force of the impact pinning me into the hood of my truck and causing my head to slam into the side of my truck directly above the wheel well and darkness filled my vision.

Scene Change: A Higher Plane

Just as fast as blackness took over my vision, whiteness replaced it and I blinked in surprise as I looked around. I was currently floating in a sea of white, wisps of steam like streamers undulating around me giving the appearance that I was underwater. There was a sudden sound of flapping wings behind me and I somehow spun around and saw a massive serpent with dozens of pairs of wings rapidly shooting through the whiteness towards me. My eyes widened and just as my arms instinctively went up to futilely ward the massive creature off it transformed into a black cloaked figure while at the same time coming to a dead stop five feet in front of me causing me to blink in stunned surprise.

The figure cackled and said in a man's voice "Oh man, I apologize for that but you should have seen the look on your face!"

I blinked at him before I scowled as I said "Let me guess, you're a B.R.O.B."

The figure tilted its hooded head (Of which all details were hidden in blackness) and said "Yes and no. I am a Random Omnipotent Being, but I'm currently more Bored than feeling like being a Bastard."

"Forgive me if I don't find that much of a comfort." I said crossing my arms. Hey, I was either currently in a coma or already dead, what did I care about watching what I said to this guy?

"You're not actually dead you know." The figure said, obviously having read my mind. At my raised eyebrow, he continued "Like I said, I've been feeling bored and so I was watching that not so little fender bender you were in. I saw what you did and I thought to myself 'Buddy, that guy looks like he could be somewhat entertaining in the action genre.' So I decided to bring you here and give you an offer that I seriously doubt you'll refuse."

"And that offer would be?" I asked, a little bit of caution now entering my tone of voice as I remembered the deals other B.R.O.B.s have made before.

"On top of holding off you're semi untimely demise for a while yet, I'll drop you off in another world where you can have a grand old time playing the part of an action hero. I'm thinking a One Piece world so I'm also willing to give you a Devil Fruit right out the gate."

"Sounds interesting, but what's the catch?" I asked warily.

Somehow, a disturbingly demented grin was now visible in the darkness of the figure's hood as he said "I'll be taking all of your memories of the story line as payment. You'll still have basic world knowledge, but Character Background Info and Future Knowledge will be completely erased."

I paled at the price given. The One Piece world was absolutely insane, and every single story I've ever read where some poor shmuck gets kicked into it only had said poor bastard (or bitch) surviving due to future knowledge. Well, there was that one poor gender bent sod in SI Seeking Straw Hat but even xe had their knowledge of the story to give them a goal to work towards. No memory of the story could lead me getting into some very deep diving pools of cow excrement if I said the wrong thing to the wrong people.

Taking a much-needed swallow, I said "I don't suppose you would be willing to allow me to modify the deal a little would you?"

The grin remained in place as the figure said "I'm open to a little bit of compromise. Like I said, the first B is currently Bored, not Bastard."

"Alright, three things: First, I'd like to be dropped into the East Blue on an island where Luffy and the others WILL find me. Second, I'd like to remember the name Straw Hat Pirates so that way I know who to go with. And Third and most importantly, if you're dropping me off on an uninhabited island, then _please_ in the name of all that is both holy and not give me a proper knife and a pallet full of duck tape!"

I got the sense the figure suddenly blinked before it threw its head back and _HOWLED_ with laughter, the surrounding mists seeming to shake like an earthquake was going on from the action. After a solid minute, the figure got itself under control and said "Ahh, I needed that." Grin returning, he said "I take it you're a Mythbuster fan."

"Got all twenty of the current seasons on my phone, along with the Search season." I said, grinning a little despite myself.

The figure chuckled again and said "Tell you what kid, not only well I grant your requests, but due to giving me a much needed laugh I'll even make it so that your phone has infinite power and Wi-Fi so that you can keep up to date with your Mythbusting. You'll of course have to pay for it still but I'm sure you'll be rolling in dough soon enough."

"Thanks." I said stunned at the generosity of the figure before me. Now I just had to make sure no Transponder Snails decided to make the phone a snack and I wouldn't have to worry about boredom while I waited for the Straw Hats when I wasn't practicing with my new Devil Fruit.

Seeming to have read my mind again, the figure said "Oh yes, I should probably tell you which fruit you'll be getting shouldn't I?" Three fruits with swirly patterns on them appeared in between us, a peach, an apple, and a clementine orange. Giving a grandiose gesture, the figure said "Think of this as choosing your Pokemon Starter, the Fruit you choose will be with you at the start of your new journey and stick with you until the very end. We have here one of each Devil Fruit type: the Lemur Zoan, the Air Logia, and the Cloth Paramecia. Choose wisely young Trainer."

I ignored my first impulse of grabbing the Logia right off the bat. This choice needed to be considered _very_ carefully after all, so I decided to consider each fruit's pros and cons starting on the other end of the DF spectrum.

The Paramecia Cloth fruit was definitely tempting. I had read about plenty examples of cloth users being excellent examples of the badass class. Gaijin Goomba had even done a Which Ninja episode on one of them: Shota Aizawa from My Hero Academia. Add a bit of Haki into the mix and the possibilities were almost limitless. _However_, I didn't _know _Haki at this point and _normal_ cloth was easily torn. AND this was a world where swords were still a primary weapon of the Mook class, never mind the really strong enemies who used them as well, meaning my weapons could be useless at the start. So, while it could have been useful as hell, the Paramecia was Out.

The next choice I thought about was the Zoan. Unbelievably durable, and rapid recovery, it would be a good choice for someone who wasn't used to combat. And a lemur was one of the best jumpers of the animal kingdom making it good for hit and runs, and that tail would probably useful too. And of course we couldn't disregard the enhanced senses. But for all of that, the Zoan only had three forms (Unless I could convince Chopper to lend me some rumble balls and even those had drawbacks), and lemurs weren't exactly at the top of the food chain so little obvious combat abilities. So while it would have been cool being able to parkour like a boss, it was Out.

That left the Logia, the fruit with the biggest pros but also the biggest cons as well. Intangibility would be nice but that would only last until we reached the New World where at least half of the competition could hit me thanks to Haki. And while the thought of becoming a super powered Wind God of Death version of Naruto was appealing, if I went full Air, who knows how hard it would be for me to return back to a human form. BUT, and here was the kicker, if I mastered the ability to go full Air and back at a fast enough speed, it would allow me to be one hell of an ambush/hit and run fighter. Not to mention the scouting applications were not too shabby either, people rarely if ever looked _up_ after all. So, while it would be one hell of a risk, if I played my cards right then then this fruit could be my ticket that allowed me to go down the whacky train ride coming up all the way to Raftel. Edge, Air Fruit.

Shaking myself out of my Deadliest Warrior mindset, I looked up from the fruits and said "I choose the Air Logia."

That demented grin was back as the figure said "Excellent choice." The apple and clementine orange both faded away leaving the peach. Said fruit floated into my right jacket pocket and he continued "Right then, time for you to head out mate, do try not to die in your first fight, it'd be rather anticlimactic going to all this trouble just for you to kick the bucket on the first level."

"No promises." I half muttered earning an amused "Ha!" before my world suddenly turned completely black like someone had turned off a massive light. The last thing I heard before I faded into oblivion was "Good luck mate, you're going to need it."

END

Author's Notes: Update Schedule and Poll on Profile

So, this is the last version of my Amnesiac Trip Through One Piece set. (Patent Pending) With its chapters being posted in the upcoming days, we're coming up to the deadline for the current poll. I _thought_ about taking it down early, but then one of the choices got eleven votes within twenty four hours making it a much closer thing than before so I'll leave it up until Tyrant of the Seas gets its Pilot Chapter posted, please have a gander at that if you would.


	2. Chapter 2

2\. Wilderness Challenge

Quick AN: Zaboomafoo and High Winds are versions of Tailor where a different fruit was chosen. This means that while most abilities in the stories are unique to each fruit and thus different events are played out differently, the events on the island remain relatively the same. Because of this, some copy and pasting has been done this chapter.

Story Start: East Blue

As I was getting depressingly used to, as soon as the darkness came it left, leaving me staggering a little from the startling shift of scenery. That staggering led to me losing my balance completely and I fell onto the ground with an 'Oomph!' of expelled air. It took me a moment to get my senses back in order but when they did, the first thing I noticed was that I was currently sitting haphazardly on sand. Getting back onto my feet, I looked around and saw nothing but ocean in front of me, a stretch of beach that seemed to bend inwards about a mile out to the left, stereotypical island forest behind me and a beach that ended at the bottom of a set of two-hundred-foot-high cliffs on the right. Also to my right about ten feet away in stark contrast with the natural scene was a five foot tall pallet of duck tape wrapped in Seram wrap, the same kind of knife Special Agent Gibbs from NCIS uses sitting on top keeping a sealed letter envelope from flying away in the strong breeze. Seeing the not _quite_ expected sight, I let out a sigh of relief.

The next sense I took closer notice of was my hearing. The pounding of waves hitting the shore was obvious, as was the howling wind that swept past, occasionally the stronger gusts picking up minute bits of sand in mini tornados. From behind were the sounds of local birds calling and if I strained my hearing then I could just barely pick up the movement of land bound animals moving through the undergrowth.

Scent was next, and while I would be the first to acknowledge that my sense of smell was usually rather terrible, I'd have had to have had no nose whatsoever to not smell the scent of the ocean in front of me or sheer scent of _wild_ in the forests behind me. There wasn't a single _hint_ of any of the industrialization that I had learned to ignore over the decades of living in human habituated locations. Honestly, it was a little startling to not even catch a trace of car exhaust, human scent coverers, or even bug spray or sunscreen.

Taking a minute to absorb all that, I then walked over to the pallet of tape and picked up the knife and letter. The envelope had no writing on it and I frowned at that fact before flicking open the knife and opened the top. Pulling it out I read:

Welcome to East Blue Mate: As promised, here's your knife and pallet of tape, I'm sure you'll put both to good use. Now, I know I told you that you'd probably do great as an action figure but I'm feeling a bit like watching some Man Vs Wild. (I felt the beginnings of unease fill me at those words.) You are also going to need time to properly learn how to use your Devil Fruit on a location that _doesn't_ have salt water less than twenty feet away from you on all sides. Therefore, I've inserted you at a point where it will be six months before the Straw Hats run into you. (I swear every drop of blood shot from my head down to my toes at that.) Before you panic though, know that you do have an out if it gets too much for you. Simply carve Time Skip into a tree with that knife and I will 'fast forward' you to the day before the Straw Hat Pirates show up. However, I'm not a needlessly cruel being so on top of the chance to train I'm going to give you an incentive to go the whole half year: If you manage to go three months then I'll give you one of those air gliders that the Air Nomads from Avatar use, and it'll be reinforced properly so that way you can use it as a melee weapon as well. (My inner Otaku grinned at the thought of having something like that. Plus, it would be handy to have for long range scouting missions) Manage to go the full six months and I'll give you back your Switch with the same modifications as your iPhone, AND as a little added motivation to go all the way, all of the games you had on your 3DS XL. (That had my eyes almost literally lighting up in flames of determination. Having my Switch could be the one thing keeping me from dying of boredom while on a ship out at sea in between islands.) Welp, that's all from me. Good luck, and try not to make the upcoming weeks too boring, won't yah?

There was no signature at the bottom, not that I expected one. I folded it up and put it back into the envelope. Putting it back on top of the pallet and absentmindedly putting the knife on top of it in order to keep it from blowing away, my eyes flicked from side to side as my mind drove down a metaphorical highway at about a hundred miles per hour. The glider and Switch meant that I was going to do my damn hardest to make it through the six months, no question about that at all. The problem was how to properly use my large but still finite supply of duck tape to make it work.

Thanks to the Mythbusters duck tape island special, I had a pretty rough draft of what to do. I could skip making the SOS sign since I actually KNEW someone would find me even if it would be half a year until then. Of course, given that this was a world where the primary method of travel was by sea I couldn't discount others possibly showing up between then and now. Hm, would have to be sure to look for good places to hide in that case, wouldn't do for some well meaning Samaritan Marine to drag me from the island and thus make me miss my meeting with the Straw Hats. I shook my head and shelved that thought for later and instead got back to more immediately important things. I needed food and water, the latter more than the former. And while I would have to wait to explore before I knew what I had to work with food wise, (Thank God I was a boy scout until I turned sixteen!) I could make a start on the water portion now. Besides, I needed to get the duck tape out of the sun soon or it could all get ruined.

It was at that point that I finally realized I still had on my capable of keeping me warm in below freezing temperatures Carhartt jacket and it was rather WARM outside. Quickly shedding it, I moved the devil fruit from the outside pocket to the inside pocket (I was NOT going to eat that thing until I had AT LEAST a quart of water to drown out the taste, YUK!) and put it on top of the stack of tape before I began carefully unwrapping the tape. Once the wrapping was off (and not a single tear to boot!) I brought the long strand of clear plastic and a couple rolls of tape over to the nearby forest where I could use some of the trees as a quick workstation. A quick estimate of length done by walking along the strand and then a few quick calculations done on the Calculator app of my phone had me quickly making a duck tape net that would get the most out of the Seram Wrap.

Top of my future Solar Still done, I made a nice big Gallon sized bucket out of duck tape, complete with carrying handles, and then went back towards the water. I made sure I knew where the waves stopped and then went back another twelve feet before I started digging. Once I reached a depth where there was water in the bottom I put my collection bucket in the middle before putting the wrap cover on top, being sure to have it dip rather than be taut, something helped by the small bit of sand I put in the middle, and used a couple of collected rocks and broken sticks to keep it in place, through tabs of tape I had thoughtfully added as an afterthought rather than the valuable plastic.

Long term water acquisition taken care of, (two hours of operation wouldn't even give me a full cup, but the solar still required no further input from me to work making it good for long term use) I began moving all of the tape AND the wooden pallet underneath to underneath the nearby trees. I remembered all of the times I found ruined tape in the garage after all and I didn't want to lose any of this tape just because the glue had boiled in the head. Next on the list was making rope, wrapping the beginning of a roll of tape around the thinnest tree I could find before I began slowly but steadily twisting it as I unrolled the rest of the twenty five feet roll. I did a second roll then stuck the still attached rolls into a stick before twisting the strands into a semi proper strand of rope. A little more tape wrapped around both ends and I had a tool that I could use both for exploration and pulling anything I needed.

With rope made, I used three more rolls of tape to make even more tightly wrapped strands of 'twine' that I would use to seed the island with snares as I went searching for fresh water. At least one of them should be able to net me some small critter to eat later. After that, I made three six litter canteens out of tape, watching the part of the Duck Tape Island episode where Adam did the same on my phone to double check that I did it properly.

With those tools made, I switched gears and made a quick shelter out of a large sheet of duck tape that I hung from the middle and secured the corners with strips of tape to tree trunks to protect me both from wind and rain and put a hammock directly underneath to keep me off the ground and hopefully the majority if not entirety of this island's bug population. I had even made a sleeve in the tent roof to keep the R.O.B.'s letter in. As a final touch, I made a tarp to put on the ground underneath so that way I could properly sit and put on my shoes. I made sure my camp had just enough trees between it and the beach that it wouldn't be easily visible from the sea since again, I didn't want to be spotted by Marine patrols, or Pirates for that matter.

Roughly five hours after my arrival onto the island and after all of the immediate preparations for my long stay that I could think of were made, I put my jacket back on, left unzipped of course, stuck my knife in its right pocket, gathered my three water canteens, my snare rope and 'exploration' rope, then grabbed ten more rolls of tape which I made a sling to hang off of and began walking along the forest line towards the cliffs I had seen before, leaving quarter width rings of tape around trees every thousand feet or so as trail markers.

It would be four hours past sunset before I came back to my little camp, the flashlight on my phone guiding me, three canteens filled with fresh water, and a two foot by six inch basket full of nuts and berries I had used my former Boy Scout experience to tentatively identify as safe to eat slung over my shoulder by a long strap that let it hang down like a computer bag would. Unfortunately, none of my snares had caught anything when I checked on them on the way back but that was alright since I was too tired to make a fire and wait for any meat to cook right now. Securing the food in a way that I was pretty sure would keep out the animals, I checked to make sure my Solar Still hadn't been torn at all and transferred the meager amount it had collected into another water container, this one with no less than five layers of tape making a five gallon drum which was secured to the thickest tree I could find. I also poured two of the canteens into it leaving the other one full for tomorrow's exploring expedition.

Long term water containment secured, and now feeling thoroughly exhausted from the long day, I made one last check of the area before I turned off my light, took off my shoes, and allowed myself to slump into my hammock bed with a tired groan of relief and used my jacket as a blanket. Making a note to myself to make some actual bedsheets out of tape tomorrow, I drifted off with fanciful thoughts of getting the glider in three months and using it to survey the island from the air.

The next morning, I woke up and looked around in confusion for a moment before I remembered my current circumstances. I gave a jaw cracking yawn and carefully got out of my hammock before I did a quick bit of stretching that had my joints pleasurably popping. A little bit of water poured from the still full canteen to the face finished waking me up and I quickly checked to make sure no animal had made off with my food stash while I slept. The little claw marks at the top of the tape lid showed that something HAD tried but I smirked when it became obvious that four layers of tape had been enough to keep whatever it was out. Peeling off the sealing strip between lid and basket, I grabbed a few berries from their side of the basket (There was even a dividing wall of tape to keep them separate) and munched on them before I chose a couple of nuts to finish my breakfast. Resealing the basket, I took a few swallows of water before I turned back towards my bed and frowned.

On that bed and still in my jacket pocket was a fruit that could potentially make my stay here a hell of a lot easier. Unfortunately, it also meant that I would never be able to swim again, something which I rather liked being able to do. But then again, I couldn't exactly not eat the Fruit since as the marks on my nut and berry basket showed there were wild animals around that could take a shot at it. The thought of some critter getting an elemental ability that they'd probably never even realize they had left a rather sour taste in my mouth. The only reason why whatever animal had been here hadn't gone for it was because it had been right next to me as I slept. Which meant that what I had to do was clear.

Giving a deep sigh, I said "OH, _man_, this is going to SUUUUCK!" I gave an anticipatory full body shiver at the horror I was about to experience. I then grabbed a handful of berries and put them by the water canteen before I took out the cursed Peach and morosely studied the spirals as I said "Man, I don't even like _normal_ peaches, now I have to eat one that's a _devil fruit_. I repeat, this is going to _**suuuuck**_!"

Giving another shudder, I let out a small whimper before I closed my eyes and took as big a bite as I dared. My eyes immediately shot open at the taste that was indescribable beyond simply _**NASTY!**_ I struggled to chew twice before I forced it down with a quick gulp of water before I grabbed the berries and rubbed them against my tongue for a solid minute trying to get the taste out before I desperately grabbed the canteen and quickly took a deep pull that I gargled for a solid minute. Spitting it out as far from me as I could, I took ten deep pulls from the canteen before I finally stopped drinking and panted for air.

Panting, I said "Oh sweet Primus and Unicron, that was absolutely RANK!" Giving another full body shudder at the remembered taste, I looked at my smeared hand and busied myself with washing it off in order to take my mind off of the ordeal I had just endured. Once that was done, I sat back down on the tarp and held my hands in front of me as I mused to myself "Alright, so now I'm an Air Air Man now, how do I turn intoooh it cannot seriously be that easy."

I was deadpanning at the end because the moment I thought about wanting to turn into air my fingers disappeared, barely visible streamers of air replacing them. Frowning, I made my right arm up to my elbow turn into air before trying to get it and my left fingers to turn back into flesh and blood. That was slightly harder, almost like my body didn't _want_ to change back but after a couple of moments my hands were normal again. Flexing my fingers once they were back, I mused to myself "Well, this should be an interesting six months if nothing else."

(Time Skip)

One month after my arrival, I was sitting on top of the cliffside trying to meditate. The first couple of weeks here I had been getting a basic grasp on my abilities, how to move while I was partially or fully air and getting the air around me to move how I wanted to. Right now though, I had put training my devil fruit to the side in order to start trying to learn Haki. Because Logia or not, the sooner I learned Observation and Armament Haki, the safer I would be in the long run from others who could use Armament themselves.

Due to what my Devil Fruit was, I chose Observation Haki first. It was a bit of a mixed bag though. When I became air my perception of things got a massive boost, allowing me to literally feel everything for miles around. This was not a good thing. I spent nearly an entire day trying to regain my mental stability from perception overload the first time I tried to 'connect' with the surrounding air in the atmosphere. Thankfully, after a week of _careful_ experimentation, I could now put a limiter on how far I could 'see' so that way I was no longer overwhelmed but it was very touch and go for a while. However, my 'air sense' and Observation Haki were NOT the same thing. So far, I could only use the air sense when I was partially or fully transformed, which meant that while it was a useful ability, it was a bit situational.

Hence why I was on the cliff attempting to meditate as I tried to learn the real deal. Which would have been going a lot better if I could. Just. STOP. _TWITCHING!_ Seriously, how was I supposed to 'clear my mind' if it made a note every time one of my joints flexed?! As a particularly bad full body twitch made me jerk back to awareness, I gave an almost literally explosive sigh and said "This is getting me nowhere _really_ fast."

Idly sweeping the horizon, I noticed a two masted ship with black dots at the top of said masts on approach roughly five miles out. Giving another sigh, I stood up and said "Well, I could use a distraction I guess."

Turning fully into air, I shot away from the cliff and quickly made my way out to sea. Once closed enough, I circled the ship a few times to get a good look at it and its crew. Said crew seemed to be this generation's Rumbar Pirates given all of the instrument cases lying around, not to mention the Contrabass saxophones on either side of their skull and crossbones. (And why would I specifically know what a Pirate crew that sailed over fifty years ago was famous for? Clearly, I had learned about them somehow but that was before even ROGER's time so it couldn't have anything to do with the story line could it?)

Shaking that thought out of my mind, I stopped my circling a hundred yards off the bow and created a large gust of wind for theatrics sake as I reformed my upper body and called out "ATTENTION PIRATE CREW: YOU ARE CURRENTLY INBOUND FOR THE ISLAND WHERE I AM GOING THROUGH A SURVIVAL CHALLENGE, THIS IS YOUR FIRST, LAST, AND ONLY WARNING: IF YOUR INTENTIONS ARE BENIGN CONTINUE YOUR COURSE, IF THEY ARE HOSTILE TURN BACK NOW BECAUSE I WILL DEFEND MYSELF!"

There were quite a few shouts of surprise from most of the crew at seeing me of course, but when I gave my warning they all fell silent, turning their attention as one towards where the Captain was standing. The big guy, an eleven foot tall man with a Contrabass Saxophone on his back and no obvious weapons, stepped forward and said "I am Captain Saul Nathaniel of the Roaming Orchestra Pirates, 17 million bounty. On the honor of our Jolly Roger, my crew is heading for that island behind you to restock on water and spend a day or two to spread our legs off our ship, nothing else."

I briefly pondered if a swear on a Pirate's flag actually held weight before I gave a small sigh to myself and nodded as I said "Alright, you can come in, but I'll be keeping an eye on you guys."

"Naturally." Nathaniel said with a grin before he cocked his head and said "By the way, I've introduced myself, it's only polite for you to do the same."

Humming to myself, I gave a bow of my torso and said "Matthew Bandstra, though I go by Matt or Tac, and as you can see, I ate the Air-Air Fruit."

"Indeed I can, you got rather lucky in what fruit you got it seems." Nathanial said before he grinned and said "This may be rather sudden, but I don't suppose you know how to play an instrument?"

Raising an eyebrow, I shrugged and said "Well I used to play a Clarinet then an Alto Saxophone but that's been years, just over a decade in fact."

Nathaniel's grin grew and he said "Well why don't we see if we can't knock some of the rust off and you can join us for the night eh?"

I gave another shrug, and with the ship having reached my position by that point reformed my legs as I said "Couldn't hurt I guess."

"That's the spirit!" Nathaniel said enthusiastically before he snapped his fingers and pointed at one of his crew members standing near a storage hatch to below decks and said "Taimin, go get us an Alto Sax from storage!"

"Aye Captain!" The man said with a salute before he hopped down the open hatch. As we waited for him to get back, I glanced at Nathaniel with a raised eyebrow and said "You keep extra instruments in your hold? I thought most of them were expensive."

"Oh for sure, but me and my crew stole most of them from a stuffy noble who hoarded a lot of them in an attempt to look 'civilized'." Nathaniel made air quotes around the word civilized before he snorted and said "Bah! He was merely a fake musician!" Now chuckling, he continued "That's actually how I got my bounty. I liberated his instruments and left a note telling him that I would put them to much better use. Besides, if anyone wants to join us then they need to either know how to play an instrument or be willing to learn how to play one so it's a good idea to keep some spares for new recruits."

"Fair enough." I said. It wasn't the strangest requirement to join a crew. My world knowledge included what Kaidou's crew was made up of after all and there was a little grain of memory showing a circus oriented crew that operated in East Blue as well.

When Taimin came back with the Alto, I set the case on the ground and opened it to find the instrument itself along with a proper cleaning kit and two reeds of each strength type. After assembling the saxophone, I choose a number two reed for the mouthpiece, saying as I did "Fair warning, after all this time I'm probably going to sound like a strangled cat."

"Wouldn't be the first time we've heard that sound on this ship!" A snickering female crewmate called down from the rigging overhead, earning several sounds of agreement and good natured jeering at some of the other crewmembers.

"She's right, hazard of being on a ship where you have to pick up an instrument to join." Nathaniel said with a grin.

Shrugging again, I flicked my tongue over my lips then stuck the reed in my mouth for a few seconds then attached it to the mouthpiece. I played a quick scale and winced at the squeaking sound I made, making an adjustment to the mouthpiece before I tried again. This one came out much better and I managed to knock the rust off of my memory in order to play the theme for the Andy Griffith Show.

When I finished, Nathaniel and the other crewmembers who had their hands free gave a quick round of applause and Nathaniel grinned as he said "There you go! Just like riding a bicycle!"

"So it seems." I said with a nod.

By that time we were getting close to the point where the ship would have to drop anchor so I disassembled the saxophone, though I did keep the reed in place, simply putting the mouthpiece's cap on with it attached so that way I wouldn't have to adjust it later. Fifteen minutes after that, I traveled alongside one of the crew's landing craft and then guided the group to the stream I used as a water supply. I also wound up trading some of my duck tape with the crew, exchanging thirty rolls from my supply for a three sectioned spy glass, a harmonica with the crew's Jolly Roger painted on the top, a small hatchet and whet stone set, and a magnesium and flint fire starter. Apparently, duck tape was as useful, if not more so on a ship as it was anywhere else.

Lunch that day was great. It might have just been plain sandwiches to most, but after a month without even being able to make bread I was practically in heaven, especially since the crew's chefs had _bacon_ for us to eat. After we had finished eating I wound up with the rest of the crew's saxophone players who had claimed their own spot on the beach with chairs, stands, and sheet music. They helped me get used to reading said music again, being rather patient with me as they did so. It took a couple of hours, but soon enough I was once again able to properly read the music and play it without having to pause in order to think of what note corresponded with which combination of holes covered or opened. The fact that I could now play the much lower notes easier then back in high school came as a nice surprise, though the higher notes still came out more as squeaks half the time.

Dinner was even better than lunch, the chefs having dug out a large fire pit in the beach during the day and using a carefully controlled fire to slow cook soup in five rather large pots. I swear my mouth all but exploded at my first taste and I honestly didn't care about how I had moaned in delight earning laughter from all around me.

After dinner, even more chairs and stands were brought from the ship and placed in a large semicircle and that night, I got a personal look at why the Roaming Orchestra Pirates got their name. They put on quite the show, seemingly pulling out all of the stops as we played under the light of several torches stuck into the beach, the cooking fire turned into a massive bon fire cheerfully blazing a safe distance away. It made me glad that I had taken a moment to set my phone to record before I had sat down with the other Saxophones.

As fun as that day turned out to be though, the Roaming Orchestra Pirates only stayed for another full day in order to make any necessary repairs of their sails and the outside of their ship before leaving on the morning of the third day, helped along by me blasting their sails with a strong gale of wind for a few miles before I gave my final goodbyes and headed back to the island to continue training. I still needed to figure out Haki after all. Joy.

Time Skip: Two And A Half Months Into Survival Challenge

I flowed through and around tree branches trying to keep as much of my cohesion as possible and considered how far I had gotten in my training. I was good enough at force projection to carve a ten foot wide trench for a hundred yards in the ocean with a blast of air from the beach shore, make ten mini tornadoes at once and keep them going for half an hour (I had Two Steps From Hell's To Glory on loop during that exercise), make one giant tornado and keep it going for fifteen minutes, and finally I had gotten my Air-Sense perception ability to cover the entire island. That last one could actually be much further but without anything but ocean surrounding the island I couldn't tell.

Haki though was a bit of a mixed bag. I had finally gotten the extreme basics of Observation going entering the second week of my second month here and I now had a fifteen foot range of Observational Haki up most of the time as a multi task challenge. The amount of plant and animal life I picked up if I wasn't careful in registering what I was sensing was absolutely _**insane**_! Seriously, there should NOT be that much insect life _inside_ of trees for Log's sake! It was fascinating on a scientific level if I focused on only one tree but downright terrifying if I allowed myself to think about what I knew the higher level pirates and Navy personnel were supposed to be capable of with this thing. The thought of being able to sense things over the god dammed ocean with all of its microbiological life and being able to pick up individual, and even SPECIFIC sentients on nearby or even far islands was a mind boggling display of information sorting. ESPECIALLY since most of them WEREN'T Logias who could detect things through their elements.

Armament Haki was pretty interesting as well. I had started working on it three weeks ago and I was already making small amounts of progress. I could now make my finger and toe tips completely black. And while I _thought_ that was good progress for being self taught, it was a far cry from allowing me to wade through a sea of bullets without going intangible. Still, I was somewhat hopeful I'd be able to cover multiple limbs with the stuff once my training period was over.

I was brought out of my musings when I reached camp and blinked when I found an island chicken pecking at my nut/berry storage bin. Grinning down at the bird from my vantage point in the tree above it, I dropped down on it and cackled as it squawked in surprise when my hands reformed already wrapped around its body. Lifting the struggling bird up so that I way I could look into its eyes, I grinned and said "_Hello, dinner_." I was going to be eating good tonight!

Time Skip: Three Months After Arrival

When I woke up this morning it took my brain a moment to process what it was seeing, though I couldn't honestly blame it. After all, seeing an Air Glider from Avatar in its extended form just hanging overhead was not a sight you'd expect to see when you wake up. Sitting up, I grabbed the glider and its wings automatically folded up. As I looked the staff over an envelope floated down into my lap and my head jerked up instinctively trying to see where it came from. But of course there were no holes in my tent roof and I glanced back down at the envelop. Picking the envelope up and opening it one handed, I pulled out the letter inside and flicking it open while still holding the glider read the letter out loud to myself.

"Hey there, Matt! Congratulations on making it through the first three months. As promised, here is your Air Nomad Glider. Also as promised, it has been reinforced to the point that it would take a giant standing on it to break it, and you can further strengthen it with Armament Haki but do us both a favor and don't take that as a challenge. (I sweat dropped a little at that. The thought of willingly allowing a giant to try and stand on this thing was crazy) I gave the glider operation controls a bit of modification as well. Normally, an Air Nomad would spin their staff to open and close the flight extensions but that seems rather silly to me so instead I gave it a mental switch, simply think if you want them to extend or retract and they shall do so. Finally, as you can see, I sharpened each end into a point so that way you can do piercing damage as well as blunt force damage. Well, that's everything, have fun with your new toy."

"Hm, well this should be fun to play with." I mused, looking at the glider in my other hand. Looks like I was going to learn how to fly a string less kite today.

Time Skip: Four Months In

There was a rather large storm going on outside of my camp site making me glad that I had used five layers of tape when making my tent. A sudden feeling of danger had me looking up from my game of Pinball on my phone and I frowned as I turned it off and moved to the entrance of the tent to look outside. There didn't seem to be anything immediately near the campsite but the feeling remained and so I put on my coat and grabbed both the glider and my knife along with my three section telescope heading for the beach. Nothing seemed obvious on the beach so I took out the telescope from my coat pocket and began scanning a wider area. Even with the lights on board it took me about ten minutes of constant searching before I finally spotted a ship in the stormy weather that was on approach. What I saw on that ship had me paling as I muttered "Ah, hell!"

The ship was still too far out for me to get a good look at the Jolly Roger but what I saw was enough to tell me that I was in trouble: the flag was predominately RED. The crew must be particularly blood thirsty if they used that color as their standard flag color meaning it was highly unlikely I wouldn't have to fight them if they made landfall. Thankfully the ship appeared to be a Caravel so I wasn't dealing with a very large crew and there was very little chance they could have spotted me since my camp was hidden by the trees and I wasn't stupid enough to have my cellphone's light on when I came to the start of the beach looking for what had set off my danger sense. Not that that really mattered since unlike the Roaming Orchestra pirates, I was NOT going to let this crew make landfall.

I extended my glider's wings but after a moment of thought I closed them again. While it was true that as a Logia even canon fire wouldn't affect me, I didn't want to needlessly put the glider through that if I could avoid it. So instead I dissipated myself and my weapon into air and shot off the beach. As I got closer, I could make out the details of the Jolly Roger which only confirmed that I didn't want these guys anywhere near my stuff. It had devil horns on the skull and the cross bones were a sword with blood drops on it crossed with a pistol that had a musket ball shooting out of the muzzle, complete with gas fire ball at the end between weapon and ammo.

Furthermore, the crew seemed to consist of the type of bulky muscular men who mainly worked as Mafia enforcers, the man wearing the captain's hat the meanest looking of the bunch with no less than five flintlocks strapped to a bandoleer going across his chest and two cutlasses hanging from his belt, one on either side. Counting him, there were eight men on the ship that I could see, and my Air Sense confirmed that this was the entire crew, and each and every one of them was radiating enough malice to make old Voldemort offer them a spot in his inner circle within the first minute of meeting them.

Seeing everything I needed to, I dipped low to just over the waves. When I reached the bow of the ship, I shot up reforming my human body as I grabbed the railing and swung over it, slamming my glider into the deck as I said "I'm only going to tell you scumbags this once: turn around this ship or die."

The captain was the first to get over his surprise of me seemingly have swam from the nearby island to their ship, coat and all. (Even the short amount of time I had been outside in the rain had absolutely soaked it.) Snarling, he drew both of his cutlasses and said "I'd be rather killing you and taking all yer valuables, both on your body and what you left on that island. Gut him boys!"

The crew all let out eager yells of agreement and drew their own cutlasses as two of them charged me. Sighing as they got close, I said "I did warn them." The next instant, the pair slashed through me in a pair of downward swings. I gave them just a moment to blink in surprise at the fact that they hadn't cut me to pieces before I stabbed the one on the right in the throat with the tip of my glider while the one on the left got a knife in his. Pulling my weapons out had the pair drop to the floor and I strode past them.

That spooked the other six members of the crew something fierce and the captain cursed out "It's a Davy Jones Dammed Devil Fruit User!"

"Yep." I said with a smirk before I roundhouse kicked sending a blast of wind that slammed into the captain hurling him through the air until he slammed into the wall of the cabin at the back of the ship. Before he could recover, I dissipated, shot forward past the rest of the crew, then reformed and slit his throat.

"D-damn it all!" The captain gurgled as he slid down to the deck. Taking an extra second or two to spit on his corpse, I turned around and cocked my head as I asked "So, who else want some?" Pointing at the right guy in the middle of the deck, I grinned and said "You, you want some."

"No I bloody don't-argh!" The man shouted before he screamed as I appeared in front of him and stabbed his foot with my glider. Letting it go, I spun around him, gripped his head with one hand on his jaw the other on the back and used 66 pounds of torque to snap his neck. The man dropped to the floor as I reclaimed my glider.

A gunshot rang out and a musket ball shot through the side of my head. Rolling it to the side, I gave my next victim a flat look. The pirate dropped the flintlock pistol he had somehow managed to fire in this awful weather with wide eyes and took a panicked step away from me. Rushing forward, I leapt up slamming my Haki'd right foot into his jaw snapping it upwards, the blast of wind I released hurling him screaming five hundred feet straight up. Landing back on the deck, I spun around and threw my knife into my fifth victim and he grunted as he tried to pull it out of his torso until I reached him and shoved my black fingertips into his chest and pulled out his heart.

Hurried footsteps had me glancing over to where the last two were running for the side of the ship and I dissipated, shot over towards them, and reformed with my glider in front of their necks and yanked back hard clotheslining them. They fell through me and onto the deck grasping their necks gasping for air until I put them out of their misery with a stab to both of their chests.

It was at that point that the man I had launched skyward came screaming back down, flailing his limbs right until he slammed head first into the deck. I jumped as I suddenly heard the voice of god cry out _**"FLAWLESS VICTORY!"**_

Getting my heart to stop trying to leave my chest, I glanced skyward and shouted "Really?! I haven't heard a word from you for four months, only getting letters, and you choose _now_ to speak up?!" Shao Khan's laughter was my only response and even that faded away after ten seconds causing me to let out an explosive sigh and shake my head, muttering very un-nice things under my breath for a moment.

Giving another shake of my head, I looked around at all of the bodies on the deck and said to myself "I wonder what it says about me that I have no problem with what I just did." Letting out one final sigh, I mused to myself "Now what the hell am I going to do with this ship?"

A piece of paper blew in from off the ship and slapped me in the face. Scowling upwards, I pulled the paper off my face and read "This vessel and everything on it is considered spoils of war. I recommend you bring it to the island and take whatever you want from it. After that, I'll swap the ship out for the amount of beris it and whatever you leave on it is worth."

Raising an eyebrow, I muttered "What use could you possibly have for this tub?"

The writing on the paper faded then was replaced with You aren't the only person I've been dealing with. Also, word of advice, take a picture of the captain and grab the Jolly Roger, you might be able to use them as proof of death at the Logue Town Bounty Office.

Frowning, I said "Not the only-?" Giving a firm shake of my head, I said "Nope, I don't want to know." Tossing the paper away, which got blown away in the storm then faded once out of my sight, I looked around before I said "Well, guess I better get this thing moving again."

Making my way to the stern of the ship, I began blasting wind at the sails and the ship began to move towards the island again. Beaching the ship was a fairly simple affair, if a bit tricky in practice I just used my wind powers to carve out a channel out of the shoreline in a manner that turned the sand into ramps down to the level of the rest of the beach and blew the ship's sails until it bumped at the end of the little channel. Compacting the sand ramps and dumping some sand from behind via small tornadoes with 'wind tunnels' at their top that then pushed the sand into the new place I wanted it at made sure that it wouldn't go backwards.

Once I was finished an hour after my fight, and feeling like a member of the NCIS team that I so loved watching, I began taking pictures of the 'crime scene' with my phone. I snapped pictures of not only the captain, but also got a picture of each other member of the crew, just in case they too had bounties. After I had gotten the photographic evidence, (I _should_ be able to send them to the snail version of a fax machine at the bounty office in Logue Town) I carved out a massive trench in the beach eight feet deep, making sure that it was high enough up the shore line that the waterline wouldn't reach it then went about the morbid act of looting the bodies for anything useful (Pretty much weapons and money of the small change variety) before putting them in the trench. Once all of the bodies were in, I put a cross at each of their positions before I shoved the sand back into place.

Mass burial of the crew finished, I turned to the ship itself. First to be raided was the kitchen. I left all of the perishable food in the fridge though I swiped all of the apple juice in it, that being one of the few things that could be left out of a fridge once cooled. No, what I really went after were the canned goods in the pantry, along with a can opener for some of the goods that were actually in cans rather than the reusable jars most sensible sea chefs used.

After that, I went down to the hold and found quite the stash treasure wise, which I had expected given what the captain had said about stealing my valuables from my corpse once he had killed me. There were two standard sized chests full of jewelry and other trinkets while another was filled to the brim with Beri notes of different denominations, with all signs pointing to the money just tossed in as it was acquired. (A later sorting would bring the final count to just over ten million beris) Finally, there were twenty pistols and ten rifles kept in the armory, cloth coverings over the rifles' trigger areas showing that these were to be used in wet conditions. Oddly enough, there were no swords. I would have thought that the crew would have had replacements for if their blades broke but I guess not. Keeping in mind about what the R.O.B. that had sent me here said about this ship going to someone else, I took half of the rifles, and half of the pistols, leaving the gun powder and ammo for said weapons for the next owners. The weapons I took could be sold at Logue Town if none of the Straw Hats wanted to use them.

The last rooms I went through were the crew cabins. Disgusting places really, clothes strewn about, bottles of rum left all over the place, and more than one blood stain on the sheets where the occupants hadn't bothered to patch, or more likely, clean themselves up after a fight before going to bed. Still, each pirate had kept a small bit of cash in their rooms along with a bit of choice trinkets so it wasn't a complete waste going through them.

The storm was FINALLY beginning to blow over as I brought the last of the loot under the large sail I had taken from the ship's hold and taped to tree trunks to hold it down. I'd make a _proper_ storage tent for the stuff in the morning. But for now, it was past midnight and I was tired. So I made one last trip to the ship and grabbed their flag before I left the ship and went back to camp.

The next morning, the ship was gone and there was a chest that held an additional twenty million beris next to my hammock. The R.O.B. had even been kind enough to fill the channel where I had beached the ship back in with the surrounding sand, leaving me with only the storage tent construction to do that day.

Time Skip: Five And A Half Months Into Training

I was just putting the collection bucket back under my solar still when I heard what sounded suspiciously like a lighthouse's fog horn coming from the ocean. Snapping my head up, I scanned the ocean before I squinted my eyes when I spotted a dot in the distance. Quickly heading to camp, I grabbed my spy glass before I sprinted back to shore and pulled it open and looked towards the distance. A few minutes later when I could finally make out details of the approaching ship I let out a rather large grin as I saw a familiar two masted ship, the Jolly Roger becoming clear four minutes later only confirming my knowledge. It looked like the Roaming Orchestra Pirates were coming back for a visit. Going by how Captain Nathaniel was standing on the bow and blew into his Saxophone making the fog horn sound again they were being 'polite guests' and 'calling in' first. Seeing the pirate with his own spy glass standing by the captain and looking towards the beach, I gave a wide sweeping wave of my free arm and saw the man say something to Nate who nodded with a grin as he put his Contrabass Sax back into place on his back and crossed his arms.

Given that I knew this crew of pirates, I was perfectly willing to wait on the beach as the ship drew closer. When the crew reached the island Nathaniel was the first off the landing craft and he grinned at me as he pulled me into a hug and said "Matt! Good to see you still alive!"

I let out a 'oomph' as he made a good try at crushing my ribs with pure arm strength, almost going intangible from the force of his hug, before he thankfully released me a moment later without prompt and I grinned up at him and said "Captain, it's good to see you again. I've got to be honest though, I didn't expect to see you again, at least not on this island."

Nate chuckled and said "Aye, I don't blame you. But I thought it would only be polite to check on you before we headed out to the Grand Line."

My eyes widened and I said "You're actually going into that mad house?" I didn't doubt the crew's abilities per se, it was just that they hadn't given a single hint that they were going to change oceans, especially not to that pirate graveyard.

Nate nodded with a hum and said "Hm, indeed, we've been in East Blue for the last five years, and the North Blue for five years before that. It's time we moved on again so we're heading for our next ocean."

"I see. You guys have a Log Post yet?" I asked a rather sensible question in my mind.

"Hah! Of course we do, ten of them in fact! We bought them the last time we were in Logue Town and we're probably going to use all of them too given how crazy even Paradise is supposed to be compared to the Blues. It'll be a wacky five years before we make a try at the New World but fun nonetheless." Nate said with a grin that wouldn't be out of place on the face of a stunt pilot before the biggest air show of the year.

I gave a nod at that. From the world history and geography part of my memories that I was allowed to keep it most likely _would_ be a 'wacky' bunch of years for the crew.

I was drawn from those thoughts though when Nate's grin went from slightly demented to more eager as he said "What about you? Did you get any more visitors while we were gone or have you just been stuck lounging around in your hammock all day?"

I snorted and said "I have NOT just been lounging around all day you overgrown organ grinder monkey."

"Ha!" Nate barked out a laugh at the insult before he fell silent as he saw my face turn serious and I continued "And I did have more guests though they were nowhere near as nice as you guys."

"Oh? I'm assuming it was another pirate crew?" Nate asked curiously.

I nodded and said "Yeah, I didn't get a chance to find out their name but they had a Jolly Roger with devil horns on the skull and a bloody sword and a fired gun as the cross bones."

Nate winced and said "The Bloody Path pirates, Captain is named Kenchi Kikaro, bounty is currently at twenty five million beri after he and his crew completely slaughtered the small port town of Seagull's Roost." He then glanced over at the line of crosses that were just barely visible from our position on the beach and said "I imagine that's them over there."

Nodding, I said "Yeah, I wasn't too keen giving them a burial at sea this close to the island where they could wash up on shore so I buried them on land."

"And their ship?" Nate asked.

I let out a smirk and lying out of my ass to cover the R.O.B.'s involvement said "Those bastards had no sense of hygiene, if I wanted to keep that ship then I would have had to fumigate it. So after grabbing what I wanted from its hold I pushed it about twenty miles out to sea then used it for target practice before tearing it apart from the inside out using a tornado."

Nodding, Nate said "I see, good riddance to bad rubbish then." Gaining a concerned look, he asked "How are you holding up after killing them?"

I gave a shrug and said "Had a nightmare or two the week after but given that they were flying a Red Flag for their default, I can't say that I actually feel bad for ending a threat, especially given how you said their captain earned his bounty."

"True enough. Hope you saved that flag though, you could turn it in to a Marine base for the bounty when your challenge is over." Nate said.

"As a matter of fact, I did." I said before gesturing towards my camp and said "Care to see what I got from the ship? Mind you, I buried the treasure but there were a few odds and ends that I grabbed as well."

Nate let out a booming laugh as he followed me to the tree line and said "Buried it did you? We'll make a pirate out of you yet Matt!" I grinned at that as the surrounding crew all either laughed or let out similar statements of agreement.

That night, there was another bon fire and concert given, though this one was completely free style without any sheet music at all. just playing whenever and whatever each crewmember felt fit with the current music. I actually joined in a little with the harmonica I got as part of the trading I did with the crew a few months back, though I mostly just hanged back and made sure my phone was recording the whole thing. When the last piccolo fell silent at one o'clock, Nate stood up gathering everyone's attention.

The captain gave a fond glance around as he said "Lads, and lasses." He nodded at where the few females on his crew were sitting together before he continued "Tomorrow we begin heading for the Grand Line, which will be our new home for the next five years. Once we leave this island, it will be full speed ahead to Logue Town, and from there, to Reverse Mountain. Rest well tonight and as we travel to the end of this chapter of our journey, remember the times we have had here, both good, and bad. The friends we've made," He lifted an imaginary mug towards me in toast with a grin, an action several other crew members copied, "and the enemies we've left defeated and crying frustrated tears." Chuckles filled the air at that and Nate's grin got just the little bit wider before he finished "Cement those memories into your minds my Nakama, for they are what make us who we are, and then look towards the future as we continue to build on that foundation. And you can't build well if you're tired, so off to bed with you lot, we'll be lifting anchor at 0800 hours tomorrow."

With that slightly less than profound ending to his speech, Nate sent his crew back to the ship. As some of the crew made sure the fire was out before they joined the others in heading back, he walked over to me and held out his hand as he said "I know we'll be saying our goodbyes in the morning, but I still wish you luck for the remainder of your challenge."

I accepted it as I said "And I wish you luck as well. Stay on your toes when you get to Reverse Mountain, I've heard stories that an Island Whale has been camped on the other side for the last fifty years." (And again, the lines of world knowledge and story line memories were once more blurred as I tried to figure out why I would know that.)

Nate blinked at that before he nodded with a smile and said "Thanks for the head's up, we'll be careful."

He shifted his grip from my hand to a pat on my shoulder before he bade me good night and made his way over to the last landing craft and headed to his ship. I waited until I was sure he was on the deck before I let out a sigh and said "Two more weeks before I follow you guys." Shaking my head from those thoughts, I made doubly sure that the fire was out before walking back towards my camp. The last thing I did before I went to sleep was to set an alarm for 0700 so that way I would not miss my friends' departure.

The next morning was full of final goodbye hugs and words exchanged. When it was time for them to leave, I climbed up to the cliff top and watched through my spy glass as they slowly disappeared over the horizon. Giving a sigh and wishing them luck, I said to myself "Safe journeys you guys." I remained on that cliff long into the day and only got off around five in the evening when my stomach finally demanded food too loudly to ignore.

Time Skip: The Day Before The Straw Hat Pirates Arrive

Waking up that morning to the sight of my Switch next to my Glider put a grin on my face, and not just because I now had said Switch to play with. It meant that the six months of no indoor plumbing, none of my favorite foods, no temperature control, and all of the other hardships I had endured were coming to an end soon. Getting out of my hammock, I grabbed the letter that was next to the Switch and opened it up to read the letter inside.

_Hey there, Mate. First of all, I'd like to say CONGRATULATIONS! You've made it through the entire six months on the island. True, you had SOME help with that roaming group of musicians but I never actually said you had to go it _completely_ without help so I'm letting that slide. Besides, if I wanted you to have no contact I would've just made it so that anyone who came would just move to one of the surrounding islands, so like I said, no biggie. Now we get to the fun bits. The Straw Hat Pirates will be arriving onto the island at roughly 0900 hours so make sure you're awake by then. I won't be saying _where_ they're making landfall though so keep your eyes and ears peeled. Finally, a deal's a deal, so here's your Switch back. Don't go turning into a gamer vegetable now that you have it again, and good luck out there._

Still grinning, I put the letter away with the other two and turned on the Switch. I planned to spend the next few hours between now and lunch getting reacquainted with this beautiful piece of technology.

After lunch I spent the afternoon collecting all of the duck tape traps I had scattered around the island. The animals caught in them all got stays of executions and I swear more than one of them gave deep sighs and had sweat drops of relief. I decided to leave the tape markers on the trees since I'm sure the people who visited the island after I left would appreciate them. (And it would be funny if some of them tried to find an inhabitant that wasn't there anymore. *Snicker*) Once all of the traps were collected, I made sure that my five gallon water container and three water canteens were full since you could never have too much potable water when on the seas after all.

With all of that done, the only thing left to do was to set my alarm so that I didn't miss the Straw Hats arrival and to settle down with my Switch and play some good old fashioned Super Smash Bros and wait.

END

Author's Notes: Schedule and Poll on Profile, please head there for a minute or two to vote on the poll.

Not as long as the other two versions, (No bullet proof vest and other things) but it still took quite a while to get this one done. Fortunately, the next chapters aren't anywhere near this long.


	3. Chapter 3

3\. Meeting My New Crewmates

Story Start: 8:45 A.M.

I had Halo 2's Heretic, Hero playing on a loop on my iPhone which was kept in the inside pocket of my Carhartt jacket as I glided five miles high and five miles out from my island, keeping it in sight as I continuously circled and feeling like I was serving Bar-CAP duty. (Barrier Combat Air Patrol) I had started my patrol almost fifteen minutes ago, but so far it had been pretty monotonous. Really, the song was just so that way I remembered to keep sending out little blasts of air to keep up my air speed at this point of my search rather than being music I felt appropriate for traveling long distances.

Fortunately for me, as I was beginning yet another circuit of the island I spotted a dot on the horizon. Banking right, I reached into my coat with one hand and turned off the music as I muttered to myself "Hopefully that's them." Seriously, the Roaming Orchestra Pirates were great, but even being a newcomer to this world I knew that most crews were more like the Bloody Path Pirates, and I was in no mood to persuade another crew that they should avoid my island while I was waiting for the Straw Hats to arrive within the next fifteen minutes.

Dipping down so that way I was only a mile over the ship once I intercepted it, I was able to see a straw hat as part of the Jolly Roger painted on its sails. That was enough for me, and I dropped down into a dive, rapidly descending like a World War II dive bomber that had spotted an enemy aircraft carrier. Like one of those fliers, I aimed for where the ship _would_ be rather than where it was. _Unlike_ those divers, I also aimed for the water on the ship's port side and I came out of my dive a bare twenty feet over the waves earning shouts of surprise from multiple people as I shot past the ship and entered a long banking turn, circling the entire vessel before I came in from the starboard bow, my speed cut way down as I matched course with the ship and called out "Ahoy there! Permission to come aboard?"

"Granted!" The apparent Captain called out, a scrawny looking teenager wearing the same kind of hat as the Jolly Roger who had been sitting on the ship's figurehead only to leap to his feet as I circled the ship. The kid was grinning like a buffoon as I landed on the gundeck, quickly hopping down to join me as I did so.

We were quickly joined by the rest of the crew, a measly three others, another male teenager with a long nose and curly hair, an orange haired female teenager and a green haired young man with _three_ swords at his waist. That last one had me do a doubletake to count the blades a second time just to be sure that I had counted right the first time. Dual wielding swords was nothing too unexpected but three? Sure, I had seen Naruto's Killer Bee's ability to fight with eight blades but it was still unusual to see a guy with more swords than hands.

Shaking that thought process away, I closed my glider's wings and turned to the captain and said "Thank you for allowing me aboard Captain. My name's Matthew Bandstra, but you can call me either Matt or Tac."

"Shishi, you're welcome! I'm Luffy! That's Zoro, Nami, and Usopp!" The Captain said, pointing first to himself, then the swordsmen followed by the girl then finally the other boy.

"Yeah, yeah, great to meet you, but where did you come from?" Zoro asked with slightly narrowed eyes.

I pointed my thumb over my shoulder and said "Your ship is about nine miles out from the island where I've been undergoing a six month survival challenge. I was five miles out and up when I spotted your ship."

"Wow, you can fly that high?!" Luffy asked with stars in his eyes.

"Oh, I can go even higher if I want, perks of being an Air Logia." I said with a smirk, the hand not holding my glider dissipating into wisps of wind before turning back to flesh and blood.

"Another devil fruit user." Nami noted with slightly wide eyes.

"Cool! Hey, join my crew!" Luffy shouted.

I blinked in surprise at the suddenness of his offer but before I could say anything, the other three gave Luffy simultaneous fists to the skull as they gained shark teeth and shouted "Don't go asking random strangers to join within a minute of meeting them!"

I though had a different reaction. Without even realizing that I had spoken aloud, I said "Huh, so that's why I thought I could join you guys so easily when I still had my memories."

Everyone's gaze snapped to me and Nami asked "What do you mean you thought you could join us when you had your memories?" Her eyes then narrowed as she continued "You said you were on a six month survival challenge, we haven't even been a crew for a single month yet, how could you possibly know about us?!"

Slapping a palm to my face and dragging it down, I sighed and said "Damn it, I meant to wait until we were back at my base camp before I explained things, my Switch would have made convincing you guys I was telling the truth so much easier." Giving a little groan, I dropped my hand and said "Alright, look, the short version is that I caught the attention of a Randomly Omnipotent Being who decided that I could provide him a bit of entertainment by chucking me into the world of a popular story about a pirate crew. As part of a deal we made, in exchange for my Logia Devil Fruit he took my memories of the story line while leaving my world knowledge alone, and I asked him to remember the name of your crew so that way I would know who to join when you guys showed up."

Nami's expression fell flat and she said "You cannot seriously expect us to believe that."

"Not without proof, which is why I wanted to wait until we were at my base camp." I said before pulling out my phone and continued "Fortunately, I have this." Pulling up my Safari App, I tapped something in the search bar and when I held it up for the others to see, I said "You guys have nothing like this available to ANYONE in this world, and this is the planet that I originally came from, called Earth. It's 70% water with seven main continents and around a thousand islands, with a single moon orbiting it." Turning my phone back to face me, I typed a new search in and then turned the phone on its side and flipped it back around as I continued "This is the solar system Earth is part of, being the third planet from the sun." Cocking an eyebrow at Nami, I asked "Now, would I go to all of the trouble of inventing a highly technological device and come up with such a detailed planet and its solar system just to be able to claim that I jumped worlds and wanted to join you guys because you were the only people I vaguely remembered?"

After a moment of the whole crew remaining silent, Luffy looking completely lost while the other three seemed to be reorienting their worldviews, Nami sighed and said "Damn Audacity Fallacy." Shaking her head, she said "Alright, I guess I can believe what you said." Raising her right pointer finger, she continued "BUT, I want to hear that long version when we reach the island."

"I want to hear it too." Ussop said, Zoro nodding his assent as well.

Luffy though grinned and asked "So does that mean that you're joining my crew?!"

"Looks like it." I said, and the teen cheered as he threw his hands up and shouted "Yay, new crewmate!"

Glancing at Usopp, I nudged my head in Luffy's direction and asked "Is he always that excitable?"

"_Yes_" Usopp said, echoed by Nami and Zoro.

"Okay then." I said, briefly wondering what I had got myself into before I shook my head and said "Well then, since we're waiting until we get to the island for a more thorough explanation, shall I give us a little more speed?"

Nami blinked and cocked her head as she asked "You can do that?"

Smirking, I said "Air Logia." Dissipating into air, I rematerialized at the stern and said "I suggest you guys hold onto something." I gave my new crew five seconds to brace themselves before I kicked up a tailwind, and the ship under us gave a slight jerk as the new wind caught the sails before its bow raised slightly as I increased the power of the tailwind, steadily increasing our speed at a knot every ten seconds.

Within five minutes the island was within unaided visual range and I let the tailwind peter out as I said "Alright guys, there's a set of cliffs on the left side of the island, come in there, I'll have a docking channel blown out for you by the time you reach it."

Opening my glider's wings, I leapt off the ship and pushed twin jets of air out of my feet, shooting towards the island at a speed that was even faster than what the ship had been making moments ago. Shortly there after, I landed on the beach roughly two hundred feet from the Solar Still. Cracking my neck from side to side, then the knuckles on both of my hands, I said to myself "Alright, their ship is just a _little_ bit smaller than the Blood Path Pirates'Bloody River, and wasn't THAT a fitting name for a ship carrying those scumbags?" Shaking my head of that thought, I took in a deep breath then thrust out my hands and blasted out a pair of twisters spinning in opposite directions of each other that dug into the sand side by side, pulling sand up from their bottom side and carrying it to either side of the trench that was being rapidly dug, the pair of wind cyclones acting much like cylindrical tunneling equipment that had screw threads to move the dirt they dug through.

The pair of twisters rapidly grew in size as they dug downwards. Once I had the hole deep enough, I began expanding the originally thirty foot long wind diggers out to the sea, brows furrowing as I concentrated on keeping the twisters in cylindrical shapes rather than expanding into funnels like they wanted to. When they hit the water the throwback mimicked the parting of the red sea allowing me to see when the twisters had traveled far enough that they were no longer actually touching the sand beneath the water and I 'cut off the power' the twisters quickly dissipating. Now with nothing holding it out of the canal, the water rushed in with a roar and I took a couple of hasty air aided leaps back to avoid the massive spray as it reached the end.

Shaking off the little bit of water that had managed to reach me, I took out my spy glass and glance out to the ocean in the direction of the Straw Hat's ship. It seems I had finished just in time, the sheep headed caravel was coming into sight around the curve of the island and I gave a sweeping wave off my hand. Seeing Usopp returning the wave from where he was standing next to the figurehead, I put away the spyglass and waited for them to arrive. The ship had barely bumped to a stop at the end of the channel before Luffy let out whoop of glee and leapt off the figure head, shouting something about wanting to hear a story and exploring the island, almost visibly vibrating in place.

The rest of the crew came off the ship in a much more sedate manner and as she came down the sand ramp towards me, Nami grinned at me and said "Alright, I was skeptical of you being able to make it so that we could come right up to the shore of the island but this is great! With you on board we won't have to worry about using a landing craft unless the shore is solid rock."

"Not even then once I learn to make cutting winds alongside pushing winds." I said with a nod before I walked past them at an angle. Once I was parallel with the stern of the ship, I blasted the top of the beach with more wind pushing the sand out into the water to form a sandbar locking the ship in place. When I got back to the others, Nami had a smile on her face as she said "Oh yeah, you're definitely going to be useful."

"That's only if he doesn't kill us!" Usopp yelped out and when Nami and I glanced at him in confusion, I saw his knees were knocking as he pointed at something that the ship was blocking with bug eyes that were completely dilated from fear. Cocking my head, I bent down than leapt a good fifty feet to see what he was pointing at. Seeing the line of crosses in front of the grave trench, I came down light as a feather and said "Oh, those guys."

"Why are you so casual about having killed someone?!" Usopp asked, pointing at me terrified.

I shrugged as I began walking to my base camp and said "They were flying a red Jolly Roger and said that they were going to kill me then loot my corpse. They're lucky I actually gave them the decency of a burial rather than just leave their corpses on the ship when I sunk it. Besides, anyone sailing on a ship called the Bloody River deserves whatever's coming to them."

"He's got a point there." I heard Nami mutter darkly.

I might have glanced back behind me at her if Zoro hadn't strode up to me and said "So that's why I smelled blood on that stick of yours."

"Seriously?" I asked, glancing at him then down at my staff as I gave it a consternated look and continued "I washed this thing's tips for five hours the morning after that fight."

"And there was your mistake, you gave the blood time to settle." Zoro said. I gave an annoyed huff and he smirked as he said "By the way, I want a spar before we leave."

Looking up towards him at his words, I frowned and said "Zoro, don't take this the wrong way, but even a combat novice like me can tell if I couldn't go intangible then you would kick my ass so thoroughly my bruises would cover everything my hair didn't."

"Ah, but you CAN turn to air, which makes this interesting enough to compensate." Zoro said, an eager glint in his eyes.

"Joy." I said with rolled eyes.

"Hey, a fight with you sounds cool!" Luffy said, dropping down from the trees he had been swinging through and landing on my other side. The guy was surprisingly quiet up there, only my Observation Haki letting me know that he had been up there at all.

"Well, I guess it would be a good idea to know what you guys can do before we head out." I said before glancing back at a trailing Nami and Usopp and said "Do you two want in on this?"

Usopp's rapidly shaking head and gibberish was enough of an answer while Nami started to shake her head before she stopped mid motion. Cocking her head, her hand went down to her hip and said "You know, it would be nice to fight another staff user without having to worry about my life during it."

As Usopp gave Nami a disbelieving look, I nodded and said "Alright, I'll keep my knife in my pocket when it's your turn."

"_Knife?!"_ Usopp squawked fearfully.

Giving him a savage grin, I said "Well I do have two hands, don't I?"

Usopp's wheeze was a perfect contrast to Zoro's savage grin as he said "So you _do_ have some common sense. Good, I was afraid that you relied on just that twig trying to imitate a spear to fight."

"Hey! This so called 'twig' can punch a hole through you just as easily as any other weapon." I said, Haki-ing up the bottom tip before I I shoved it through the closest tree, its point coming six inches out of the other side. I heard the sound of a body hitting the ground and Usopp wheezing as I pulled the staff back out.

"And suddenly I'm not as eager to fight him." Nami muttered behind us. Zoro though was giving the staff a much more interested look before he glanced up to my face and gave an understanding nod.

Luffy chose that time to start laughing his head off as he said "Shishishishi! Now I _really_ want to fight you!"

"What's wrong with you two?! He just punched a hole through that tree like it was nothing and you're looking forward to fighting him?!" Usopp shrieked.

Looking confused, Luffy turned his head over his shoulder and said "Yeah? I mean it's not like we're going to be fighting for real."

I glanced back to see Usopp raise a finger with an open mouth but he dropped the finger as he said "Withdrawn."

Snorting at that, I entered my campsite and said "There are some chests inside the bigger tent you guys can bring out if you want something to sit on." I slipped into my duck tape tent, grabbing my Switch and the letters my benefactor had left me. Coming back out, I saw Luffy and Zoro putting down the last chest, Nami and Usopp already seated. As the two sat down, I 'sat down' in the air cross legged earning stars in both Luffy's eyes and Usopp's knocking him out of his scared mood for the moment.

"That's something you don't see every day." Nami muttered to herself and I shot a grin at her before I focused on all of them and said "Alright, let's start with the basics of my situation. Like I said earlier, I'm from another world, but I don't just mean that I'm from another planet in the same solar system as this one. Do any of you know what the multiverse theory is?"

Seeing all four shake their heads, I said "Alright, here's the technical definition: The multiverse (or meta-universe) is the hypothetical set of finite and infinite possible universes, including the universe in which we live. Together, these universes comprise everything that exists: the entirety of space, time, matter, energy, and the physical laws and constants that describe them. In layman's terms, this means that there are more universes out there than just the one we are living in, some radically different with completely different rules that its inhabitants have to live by, others where the only difference between them and ours is a single choice someone made. For instance, here you could have chosen to have chocolate ice cream while in the next one over you could have had vanilla. Basically, anything that could happen, has happened somewhere, even supposed works of fiction that would be impossible in one realm has happened in another."

"Oh, so it's a mystery verse!" Luffy said pounding fist into palm with a nod of understanding.

Nami, Ussopp, and Zorro all groaned at that while I blinked before shrugging and said "Pretty much, where I came from it's only a Theory with no way to actually prove it. Well, there WAS no way to prove it but unfortunately I don't think I can tell the Big Brains back home that they were right."

"So how did you wind up in _our_ universe?" Nami asked.

Giving a sigh, I said "Too be frank, I was given a second chance." Powering up my Switch, I opened the Youtube app and did a quick search. Flipping the Switch around so that way they could see a video clip from Fast and Furious I said "These are the main form of land transport in my world, they're called cars if you're interested. Anyway, they can reach high speeds, some up to over two hundred miles per hour, though the speed limits are usually set between thirty and seventy miles per hours. Still, even with those relatively slow speeds, accidents can happen. And when they do on highways, you get this…"

Turning the Switch around, I did another search and when I flipped it back around, the Straw Hats were treated to the sight of a ten car pileup. Nami's hands went up to her mouth as they watched and even Zoro tightened the grip he had on one of his sheaths. Turning the Switch off at the end of the video, I said "I was caught in the tail end of one of those accidents. When I was trying to get another person off the road I got pinned to my truck and my head hit metal hard enough to shatter my skull. I would be six feet under right now if not for some extremely extenuating circumstances."

"Where I come from the events of this world is one of the most popular stories, it had actually been on its twentieth year when I left." I said, seemingly moving onto a completely different topic.

"Really?!" Luffy and Ussopp asked with stars in their eyes.

At my nod, the two went "Cool!" Nami though cocked her head and said "That's great an all, but what does that have to do with this accident you were in?"

"I'm getting to it, don't worry." I said. Cracking my neck a bit, I continued "When the crashes started happening, we had an audience of sorts. A R.O.B., short for Random Omnipotent Being, had been watching. He saw my actions and apparently feeling rather bored thought that I could provide him with some entertainment and made me a deal. The bare basics of the deal were that he would send me to a world where the events of the story, titled One Piece if you're curious, would happen and make it so that way I would meet you guys, and he even gave me the choice of three Devil Fruits, Air Logia, Lemur Zoan, or Cloth Paramecia. In exchange though, he took all of my memories of the story line, leaving only the same world knowledge that a native would have."

"He took your memories?!" Luffy asked, shooting to his feet with an outraged look on his face and his hands clenched so hard into fists that his hands shook.

"Whoa! Easy there Luffy!" I said holding a hand up and tried to calm him down as I said "Considering that I would have been dead if he didn't do this, I considered it a pretty good trade off. Besides, this R.O.B. seems rather agreeable to negotiation and I managed to sweeten the deal somewhat."

"Oh? And how did you 'sweeten the deal'?" Nami asked with a smile. Seemed the thought of being able to bargain with someone allowed her to move the last bit away from what she had seen.

"First off, I got him to agree to drop me off on an island in the East Blue where you guys WOULD find me. Second, he allowed me to remember the name of your crew. And third, when he dropped me off on this island, he left me with a proper knife and a pallet full of duct tape." I said counting off my fingers before I grinned and said "Apparently the way I said my request for the last part amused him and he not only agreed to the requests, he upgraded my phone to have infinite battery and WiFi signal, not that I expect you guys to know what that means." I pulled my phone out of my pocket and held it up for them to see for a moment before I put it back.

Continuing my story, I said "Once I got here, I found this letter on top of the pallet of tape." I pulled out the first letter and handed it over to Nami who pulled it out of the envelope and the three guys crowded around her shoulders to read it.

Once they had read the letter, Ussopp let out an impressed whistle and said "Man, spending six months on an uninhabited island, that is badass!"

"Thank you kindly." I said with a nod before I continued "Moving on, I spent the first day here making sure I had everything to survive. When I was younger, I was part of a group called the Boy Scouts of America. It and its counterpart the Girl Scouts of America were civic groups that on top of helping out the community put a strong emphasis on camping and wilderness survival. This coupled with knowledge from one of my favorite tv shows meant that I knew what I had to do to survive out here. First thing I did was use the plastic wrapped around the pallet of tapes and some of said tape to make a Solar Still for long term water collection, you probably saw it when you guys made landfall."

"So that's what that was." Nami muttered before she glanced up at me and asked "Any chance that could work on a boat or does it have to be done on the beach? Having a ready source of fresh water could be a literal life saver on long trips."

I shrugged and said "We'll have to make a tub to hold the sea water but I don't see any reason why it couldn't work."

Nami nodded and then gestured for me to continue and I said "Once that was made, I made a quick bit of shelter out of tape then went in search of fresh water since while the solar still is a constant method of collecting fresh water so long as it has salt water to work with, the process is rather slow. Once I had enough fresh water and a basket of nuts and berries, I called it a night. The second day, I ate my Devil Fruit. As I'm sure Luffy will agree with me, I have NEVER tasted anything that disgusting before." Luffy nodded matching my disgusted look and stuck out his tongue with a heartfelt "Eugh!" Shaking myself from that memory, I continued "Once I had my Devil Fruit, I began training it along with Observation Haki and Armament Haki, two skills that pretty much everyone and their grandmother can use in the second half of the Grand Line. Don't worry, I'll teach you guys and any other crewmates we have as well. A month later, a pirate crew came ashore and I did a bit of trading with them, trading a chunk of my tape stores for some useful supplies. Another pirate crew came upon the island four months into my training but like I said earlier, they were NOT nice. When they proved hostile, I wiped them out then took what I wanted from their ship before sinking it."

"I don't suppose they had any treasure on board?" Nami asked, leaning forward eagerly with a greedy glint in her eyes.

Before I could say anything, Luffy said "Nami! That's Matt's treasure, you can't have it!"

"But-" Nami started only to draw back as Luffy glared at her and said "No! Spoils taken from pirate fights belongs to the pirate who fought. According to Shanks that is Pirate Law!"

As Nami pouted, I blinked and said "Hang on, 'Shanks'? You don't mean _Red Haired Shanks_ the YONKO do you?!"

Luffy went from angry to happy as he gave me a megawatt grin and said "Shishishi, Yep, he stayed at my island for a while ten years or so ago!"

"Huh, so _that's_ why you have that hat." I mused to myself under my breath before shaking my head and said "Uh, anyway, they had about ten million beri with them." Nami clenched a hand to her chest and let out a distressed wheeze and I gave her a concerned look before I turned back to Luffy and shrugged as I said "I buried it to keep it safe, but once I dig it back up I don't mind donating eight million of that to the crew's coffers." It wasn't like I didn't have _twenty million_ more, though how to explain how I got that amount was going to take some pondering since I said I sank the ship to hide the R.O.B.'s involvement, unless of course, they never _found out_ about it. Hm…

Before I could give that errant thought more than a moment of consideration, Nami somehow teleported off her chest to stand next to me and pulled me into a crushing hug that had me almost turning intangible automatically and her pressing my head into her boobs as she squealed out "I love you big bro!"

Growling, I yanked myself out of her grip and said "Get _off _of me!" Once free, I huffed and said "Geeze, and I thought that cliché was just anime tomfoolery." Giving Nami a flat look, and ignoring Luffy and Usopp's snickering, I said "You got problems lady."

"But Maaaatt, it's _Eight Million Beris_, I've NEVER gotten that much money all at once, even after robbing some of the better off pirate crews." Nami said, a drop of drool forming at a corner of her mouth.

"Riiiiiight." I said, floating away just a little bit before I shook my head and decided that I _definitely __**wouldn't**_ be mentioning the extra twenty million beris I got for the ship, which I had fortunately buried away from the rest of the treasure, and of which I was going to dig up by myself and find a good hiding spot on the ship while the rest of the crew slept tonight. Shaking that thought from my head, I glanced at the other three as I said "Moving on, a few weeks ago, the first crew came back to check up on me before they headed for the Grand Line. After that, it was just more training until you guys showed up today."

Usopp apparently had changed his tune about me as he said "Well, anyone who's able to make due on an island for six months with almost nothing but duck tape to work with in the beginning is alright in my books." He then gained a drop of drool of his own as he glanced at the remaining forty rolls I had of the stuff and said "So many things I can do with that."

Face palming, I said "Great, I'm getting saddled with a crew of cracked eggshells. Why did I want to join up with you guys again?"

"**Because you knew that the adventures you would be going on would be epic."** A voice packed to the brim with power said in amusement. Five heads snapped over to the tree where a rottweiler was sitting.

As my new crew looked at the dog in confusion wondering where it came from, I gave it a flat look and said "And the reason you look like my old dog Apollo is why?" 'So much for keeping contact between the crew and him minimal.'

Chuckling as he scratched his ear with his hind foot, the R.O.B. that had sent me here said **"Because if you guys saw my **_**real**_** form, your eyes would literally explode from trying to comprehend it."**

"EEP!" Usopp, well eeped, as he stiffened fearfully.

Huffing out a laugh, the higher plane being masquerading as a canine padded over to Luffy. The two had an intense stare down before the R.O.B. grinned and said **"Hello there Future King, as Matt said before, I am a Randomly Omnipotent Being, but you can call me Taifun."**

As the R.O.B. offered his front right leg for Luffy to shake, who grinned and accepted it, I cocked my head and asked "How come you told him your name but not me when we first met?"

"**Because you never asked."** Taifun said in amusement and I slapped my face with my palm while muttering "Oi vey…"

Luffy laughed as he said "Shishishi, you're funny."

"Yes, he's hilarious. But why are you here? I got the feeling that you communicated with Matt only through letters." Nami said, eyeing the 'dog' warily."

"**I find myself feeling randomly generous so I thought I would bestow some gifts. Future King, you're hat if you'd please."** Taifun said, turning his gaze back to Luffy at the end. Luffy hesitated for a moment before he took off his straw hat and held it in front of Taifun. Taifun nosed the headgear and it flashed as he said **"A king requires a crown that can withstand the test of time. Your hat is now indestructible. Nothing will damage it from now on."**

"Wow, really?! Thanks a lot!" Luffy said, eagerly hugging his hat to his chest with a megawatt grin.

Taifun huffed in amusement before he padded over to Zoro and said **"Roronoa Zoro, draw Wado Ichimonji."** Zoro studied the being in front of him for a moment before he pulled the white sheathed Katana out. Taifun nosed the blade and it too flashed as he said **"The path ahead of you is a long and perilous journey swordsman, and you shall see many blades shattered, both your enemy's and your own. But go into battle knowing that **_**this**_** blade shall never be one of them."**

Zoro's grip on Wado's hilt tightened even as he nodded his thanks. Turning his gaze to Usopp, he said **"Sniper, present your bag."** Usopp cautiously moved closer and held it up. Taifun touched it and there was the now expected pulse as he said **"A ranged warrior is only effective so long as they have the ammunition to last the entire fight. Your bag is now a Bag of Holding, capable of holding everything you can fit inside its opening, as well as a mental retrieving spell. Merely think what you wish to withdraw and it shall come to your hand."**

"Wow, thanks!" Usopp said with a grin, imitating his captain as he hugged the bag to his chest.

Taifun snorted in amusement before he turned his Gaze onto Nami, a slightly worryingly wide grin forming on his face as he said **"And as for you, Compass of the King."** Nami's audible gulp of nervousness made his grin grow even wider as he continued **"I leave you both with this book of never full pages for your future Atlas,"** A book just a little bit taller than Nami's forearm was long appeared in front of her and she grabbed it with a pleased grin before looking up as Taifun continued **"and this advice: The night is always darkest before dawn, and the current night shall soon end."**

Nami stiffened at that, earning confused looks from the rest of us. But before we could ask, Taifun gave us one last nod before he turned around and walked to the tree he had appeared at. No, not to, he walked _through_ the tree and disappeared completely, even to my Observation Haki causing our jaws to drop.

Luffy and Usopp quickly darted over to the tree and looked around the thin trunk as Luffy asked "Hey, where did he go?"

"He just flat out vanished!" Usopp said amazed.

"Damn, if I tried that, I'd get a body full of splinters." I said with a chuckle.

Zoro merely snorted in agreement before he grinned at me and said "Now that your explanation's over and the generous god has left, can we get to sparring now?"

Despite my status as a Logia, I felt a shiver of dread briefly go through me before I shook it off with a shrug and said "I don't see why not."

"Good, then let's get back to the beach, I want some room to work with." Zoro said, standing up from the chest he had been sitting on and striding back towards the ship.

"Oh, this should be good." Nami muttered to herself as the rest of us followed him.

We came out onto the beach to the sight of Zoro tying the bandana that had been on his left arm to his head then drawing his swords, putting Wado Ichimonji's hilt in his mouth. I raised an eyebrow at that before shrugging and unclipped my knife from my belt and flicked it open with a quiet but sinister sounding 'click' sound. Walking to stand near Zoro, I studied him for a moment before I blasted wind from the bottom of my feet and shot towards him, staff tip pointed right at his chest.

Zoro knocked the staff away with his left hand sword and quickly parried my knife thrust with the other before jerking his head to the side. Wado proceeded to cut right through my head and I gave a theatrical sigh as I said "We're going to be at this all day."

Zoro's savage grin said that he was perfectly fine with that even as he pushed me back with the blade holding back my knife. I recovered my balance just in time to bring my staff up to block his two hand held blades while my Hakied knife rose to block Wado. Grinning at the swordsmen, I stomped my foot in the ground and a blast of wind threw up a sand cloud forcing Zoro to close his eyes on instinct. Using that distraction, I dissipated then reformed behind him and kicked the man's back trying to throw him away, keyword there being _trying_. As Zoro glanced over his shoulder at me with a raised eyebrow, I in turn glanced down at my foot still on his back and then back up at his head and said "Oh come on, that's just not _fair_!" Zoro's grin made a return as he spun around to slash at me again and it was only my Observation Haki that kept me from having to go intangible again to avoid the three slashes that would have carved my chest open if I wasn't a Logia. Gritting my teeth as I desperately blocked the three blades that seemed to blur with how fast they were traveling, I thought to myself 'This is _definitely_ going to take a while.'

Time Skip

Five hours later, Nami let out a yelp as I hooked her ankle with one of my feet and yanked her off balance. She hit the sand and started to get up only to freeze as my staff tip rested on her shoulder. Sighing, she said "I yield." Replacing staff with hand, I hauled her back up to her feet and she smiled as she said "Thanks for not going intangible during that."

I gave a shrug and said "It was good practice for when we run into others who can use Armament Haki to still hit me."

Nami looked a little frightened and asked "We're not going to be running into those guys anytime soon are we?"

"Nah, that's tail end of Paradise at the very least." I said with a negligent wave of my hand, my world knowledge coming in handy yet again. When Nami sighed in relief, I grinned and said "However if I have any say in it then _you guys_ are going to be able to do it much sooner than that. If you're half as good a navigator as I think you are then I bet you'll have Observation Haki down in a _month_."

Nami blushed pleasingly at that before she suddenly grinned and said "Hey, now that all of the sparring's done, let's go grab that treasure!"

Shrugging, I said "Well, we do need to load all of my supplies on the ship." Turning to where Luffy and Zoro were going at it, with Usopp eagerly watching, I gave a sharp whistle. When the other three turned towards me, I said "Guys, we're going to get the money, do you guys want to come with?"

"Yeah!" Luffy yelled, eagerly bouncing his rubber body over. (And boy, had it been interesting figuring out Luffy's Devil Fruit during a fight!)

"Sounds good!" Usopp said with a thumb's up walking over as well.

"Eh, if it's all the same to you guys, I think I'll take a nap." Zoro said, walking up to the tree line.

Before he could settle down in the shade, I said "I've got a hammock under my tape tent you could use Zoro." Without stopping, Zoro popped a thumb's up and kept walking into the trees. I watched him for a moment before I turned to the eager faces of the other three and said "Alright then, let's go."

"Yeah!" both Luffy and Nami said eagerly.

The trip to the treasure was fairly long. We walked pass the line of crosses for ten minutes until we reached a tree with a ring of duck tape at its base. Thirty trees after that, we came upon one that had an x carved into it just as low. Turning towards the beach, I took twenty steps forward before I dug around a little uncovering a stick. Lining up on the stick, I took fifteen steps parallel with the tree line, uncovered another stick, then took fifty steps _back_. On that last one, Usopp sweat dropped and said "You sure went to a lot of trouble to hide this treasure of yours."

"Considering I couldn't be sure that there wouldn't be someone showing up on the island without my knowledge, I had to. For all I know, someone actually did come to the island during the six months that I was here and I just never ran into them." I explained before I gestured them to back up, waiting until they had taken ten steps back before forming a large twister that began vacuuming up large amounts of sand, a sort of tunnel like construct of wind carrying the sand roughly seventy feet away as the twister circled around a forty foot circle in a manner that left a relatively shallow funnel shaped hole going ten feet deep before the top of the three chests were revealed. I hopped down into the hole and basically leaf blew the last of the sand away and opened the chests making sure that their contents were still inside, including the Bloody Path Pirates' Jolly Roger in the beri chest.

Nami of course was right beside me and she squealed in delight as she saw the gems and trinket chests' contents as she said "Matt, you didn't tell me that there was _jewelry_ as part of the treasure!"

I shrugged as I closed the chests back up and said "I thought that was a given, and besides, you didn't ask." Glancing up at the boys, I said "Usopp, if you'll help Nami with one of them while Luffy and I get one each, we can get all this back in one trip."

"Alright." Usopp said, the two quickly joining us. As we walked back to the ship, Usopp asked "So Matt, how did you get all these chests there? I can't imagine you wanted to drag them all that way one after the other if you wanted to keep them secret from anyone who could have been watching."

"It was actually fairly easy; I just stuck a trio of small but high revolution twisters under them and walked them over while sticking to in between the trees." I said.

Usopp blinked and said "You've got that much control over your wind constructs?"

I shrugged and said "I've had months to get used to making my devil fruit work and wind is a lot easier to use than say lightning or fire."

"I can certainly see why you would want so much control with it. One minor slip up and you could be uprooting trees in a giant tornado." Nami said.

I nodded and said "That or the ship I'm on losing a mast." The three of us shuddered and even Luffy looked a little pale at the thought of the ship he was on being damaged to that extent. Shaking his head of that morbid thought, Usopp said "Moving on, Matt, you said you still have world knowledge right? What can we expect on the Grand Line?"

Luffy opened his mouth and I glanced at him, but after a moment, he seemed to reconsider something and nodded at me as he said "Since you don't know the story anymore, I guess it's alright for you to tell us."

"Not the kind to like spoilers eh?" I asked with a small grin. Luffy gave a definitive nod and I chuckled for a moment before I glanced back at Usopp and said "Simply put, Chaos Incarnate. The islands all have their own magnetic charge requiring a special type of compass to navigate them which we will have to pick up in Logue Town before crossing the Red Line." Nami tsked to herself in annoyance at that while I continued "From what I understand, those selfsame conflicting magnetic fields play merry hell on the weather systems, the weather only calming down when you get close to one of the islands. Each island is stuck in one of the four seasons year-round and due to how isolated the islands on the Grand Line tend to be due to the roughness of the ocean the ecosystems tend to evolve at different paces. For instance, while Drum Kingdom is known as the medical capital of the region, the relatively nearby Little Garden is still in the prehistoric stage, dinosaurs and everything."

"Dinosaurs, really?!" Luffy asked eagerly and at my nod, he started bouncing, chanting "Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs!" as he went, somehow keeping the chest on his shoulder as he did so.

Usopp however reacted in the opposite direction of the spectrum, beginning to mutter under his breath "Grand Line scary, Grand Line scary."

I snorted at that and decided to withhold the fact that both those islands were in the Paradise half of the Grand Line and that the New World was even worse, IE, Raijin Island which rained _lightning_ 24/7. Especially since Nami was currently chewing on her free hand's thumb muttering what I _think_ was meteorological jargon as she talked herself through how she would navigate said ocean with furrowed brows and a severe frown.

Time Skip: That Night

Thanks to us having sparred the morning away, getting my gear on board the Going Merry (I finally learned the ship's name during a late lunch), breaking down camp, and gathering water and other supplies from the island took up the rest of the day. After dinner, Usopp helped make the new basin for the solar still, made out of a wooden frame that we put six layers of duck tape around, the tape being laid down in intersecting layers, starting with going up the basin walls on the first layer, horizontally the second, and so on until we were sure that the basin wouldn't be leaking on us.

After that, Luffy demanded a beachside campfire, the Monkey somehow finding everything needed to make S'mores in the Merry's Kitchen. (I was EXTREMELY surprised to find out that Hershey's was an actual thing in this world.) In the tradition of campfires everywhere, stories were told, some rather humorous attempts at being tales of horror (Luffy: And when the pirate turned back, the meat was GONE!), some were incredibly farfetched (Usopp: And then in thanks for slaying the great mountain lion the people made the young boy king.), and my contribution? Well given the company, I thought it fitting to tell the story of the Curse of the Black Pearl, and I chose wisely given how well liked it was by the other four.

Still, with such a long story at the end, it was well past one in the morning when we went back to the Going Merry to go to sleep. Well, the others went to sleep, there were a couple of things that I still had to do tonight. It was three in the morning when I slipped off the ship, slipping into the tree line and heading back to where my camp used to be, my memory assisted night vision allowing me to avoid turning on my phone's light.

Once there, I stood in the middle of the small clearing and said "Taifun, I'd like a word with you."

"**What's up Matt?"** Taifun's voice came from behind me.

Turning around, I saw that he was now shaped like a Hork Bajir from the Animorphs series. I raised an eyebrow at the sight before I shook my head and frowned seriously as I crossed my arms and said "Alright, what was with all of that gift giving back there?"

"**What do you mean?"** Taifun asked, cocking his head in seeming confusion.

My frown grew as I said "Taifun, please don't insult me. We may have had limited interactions, but I'd still like to think that I've got your measure from them. You suddenly appeared out of nowhere in an actual body while before you were perfectly content to interact with me via letters and you handed out modifications to those four like you were a grandma giving sweets to their grandchildren, not a single mention of an exchange anywhere in sight. That's not you, you've always been a proponent of Equivalent Exchange before, so why the change in your MO?"

Taifun chuckled and said **"You always are rather quick to pick up on things Matt."** At my confused look, Taifun grinned and said **"You're not the only version of you that I've made deals with buckaroo."**

I gained a flat look and asked "Why am I not surprised?"

Taifun cackled and said **"Because you're a fanfic author who loves the Multiverse Theory."** Laughing a little longer, Taifun suddenly turned dead serious and said **"You're right of course, I did have a reason for what I did yesterday. To tell you the truth, what I gave your new friends were entirely pointless. Luffy's hat may get a little bit damaged down the road, but it wouldn't be anything a quick bit of sewing wouldn't fix. Zoro's Wado Ichimonji would never have been damaged to the point where it would be close to breaking. And as for Usopp and Nami? Their gifts aren't anything to write home about given how commonplace Bags of Holding and something to hold all of a person's maps in one thing are in video games and places where magic is a real thing."**

Shaking his head, Taifun said **"But as pointless as what I gave them was, it served a point. It gave the message that this world is under my influence, and that I AM keeping track of it, along with all of the other worlds I have an interest in."**

I frowned again, this time in confusion as I asked "Why would you need to do that?"

"**Because as you know, I'm not the only R.O.B. out there, and some of them really do deserve that B for Bastard in front of their title."** Taifun said, somehow making his currently a beak for a mouth scowl as he crossed his arms and continued **"One in particular doesn't like how well I can multi-task, able to keep up with multiple variations of you and a couple of other people while he has only a single poor sap stuck in another One Piece world to torment, and he was preparing to screw with not only this version of you but the other versions as well. Needless to say, I didn't want him anywhere near MY entertainment. Allow me to unlock a part of your memories so that you can really understand how bad he is. This Bites! Chapter One."**

I gritted my teeth a little as a brief flash of information returned to me. Blinking at what I now remembered, I winced and said "Yeah, I definitely don't want to have to deal with that asshole. Thanks for that."

Taifun returned my nod of gratefulness with a nod of his own before he gave a shooing motion and said **"If that's all Matt, then you should head off for your second task then get to bed. You'll be heading out early tomorrow after all."**

"Right." I said with a nod and Taifun vanished, leaving me once more alone in the woods as I made my way back to the beach. Taifun was right after all, it had been a long day and I needed to get some sleep. But first, I had twenty million Beris to dig up and then hide again. The Bilge of the ship should do nicely, especially if I cover the chest in a couple layers of duck tape first.

END

Author's Notes: Update Schedule and Poll on my Profile, please take a moment to head there if you haven't voted on the most recent poll yet.

So we're seeing another difference besides just which Devil Fruit I got in this version compared to the others. Taifun randomly popped up as I was typing, proving that he really does deserve that R in his title and I decided to run with it. Shout out in the story to the Crossbrain and their marvelous work This Bites! for being the ones to get me wanting to actually write One Piece stories rather than just read them.

Also, I can't _believe_ I almost forgot about that extra twenty million beris I got in exchange for the Bloody River. All of that money, never mentioned again if I hadn't decided to do a quick reread of Chapters 2 and 3 of this story while in the middle of posting the chapters for Zaboomafoo. I'll have to decide whether that goes into a shopping spree at Logue Town or if it's saved for something else.

One final thing. Before you guys ask, it does NOT take as much space to hold large amounts of money as shows and movies would make you think if the bills are a big enough denomination. The chest holding the Blood Path Pirates' ill gotten funds was big because the bills were all different denominations while the chest holding the twenty mil is only about the size of a business briefcase since it holds uniform bills that are of the highest available denomination. Just thought that I would clear that up before someone uses their only available review asking how a treasure chest could fit in a ship's bilge.


	4. Chapter 4

4\. We Need A Chef Around Here

The last day had been pretty smooth sailing. Good weather, Nami had put us on a strong current for a couple of hours that gave us just a little more speed, and the Going Merry practically sailed herself. As such, most of the day had been spent with the crew telling me about how they had joined. Luffy even went into the proper details about how he had gotten his Straw Hat from Shanks. The fact that a YONKO of all people sacrificed an _arm_ for a scrawny kid in the 'weakest ocean' said that whatever adventures we were going to face that I had forgotten were going to be downright _**EPIC**_. That kind of origin story demanded nothing less.

Sleeping in a hammock that night on a shifting ship at sea rather than on an island or said ship when beached took a little getting used to. It didn't help when Luffy wound up shifting to hang sideways off of his hammock and with his body being rubber, his head had drooped a bit bending his neck at the base in a way that made him snore like a stuttering engine. Still, the kid was light enough that once I brought his head back to the rest of his body it was easy to shift said body back into proper hammock sleeping position.

Today was another good day weather wise, filled with clouds sure, but the kind of wispy white ones that would have Naras sighing in contentment as they lounged on a hill side for hours. At the moment though, I wasn't paying attention to them. Instead, I was leaning against the Mizzen Mast watching as Luffy loaded a cannon, Usopp standing next to him. When they lit the fuse, I called out "Fire in the hole!" Nami quickly joined me in slapping our hands over our ears. As expected, the cannon let out a loud blast, waking up Zoro who had been sleeping on the roof of the kitchen. A pillar of water erupted at _least_ a hundred yards from the rock pillar that Luffy had been aiming at and he cocked his head as he said "Huh? That was way off!"

"What are you doing?" Zoro asked as he sat up.

"Cannon practice!" Luffy called back. Usopp raised the cannon barrel on his turn and the cannon ball smashed right through the pillar. Luffy grinned and said "Awesome! You hit it on your first try!"

Usopp grinned and said "Whadya think?! I'm awesome when it comes to aiming! Impressed?!"

"It's settled! You're our sniper!" Luffy said with a grin, clapping a hand on Usopp's shoulder as they went to put the cannonballs back.

As they left the Mizzen Deck, I looked at Nami in confusion and said "Shouldn't that be 'Master Gunner'?"

Nami sighed and said "You really want to try to teach _Luffy_ proper naval terminology?"

Zoro's snort at her question perfectly expressed his idea of how well THAT would stick and I shrugged as I said "Eh, fair enough."

Nami glanced up at the sky noting the position of the sun and said "Well, I guess I might as well get started on lunch." She got up off of the lawn chair she had been reading on and Zorro and I followed her into the kitchen.

Fifteen minutes later, there was the sound of crashing and someone shouted "Come out you damn pirates!"

Zoro glanced up from where he had been leaning against the wall and said "Hm, that voice?"

I glanced at him, but turned my gaze on Luffy who swung open the door and called out "What the…Who are you?!"

He was answered by the voice shouting "How dare you, a nameless pirate try to kill my partner?!" There was another sound of smashing wood then Luffy's angered voice shouting out "Don't wreck my ship!"

I winced when there was a final smashing sound and said "Sound's to me like Luffy is the one doing the wrecking."

Nami sighed and said "I guess we better see what's going on."

We came out to the sight of a guy wearing sunglasses, a blue jacket, and with a tattoo on his cheek laid sprawled out on the deck. Zoro cocked his head and said "Hey, Johnny, what are you doing?"

"You know this guy?" I asked with my own cocked head.

Zoro nodded and said "Yeah, he and his partner are a couple of bounty hunters I've worked with in the past. Speaking of, oi Johnny, where's Yosaku?"

"Big Bro Zoro? Why are you on a pirate ship?" The now named bounty hunter asked as he spun to sit on his knees before shaking his head and said "That's not important right now, Yosaku's in big trouble!"

Quickly standing, the bounty hunter showed us where a pair of grappling hooks were attached to our ship, a smaller boat on the other end of the lines. A glance down showed another man wearing a green coat and a red face shield laying on a sheet, his bandage wrapped middle tinged with blood. Seeing that, I leapt over the side and down to him and began checking vitals as I called up "Usopp, the first aid pack is right next to the fridge, grab it!"

"On it!" our Sniper called. A quick check showed that only Yosaku's torso was wounded so I picked Yosaku up and turned my legs into a miniature twister to bring him up onto the Going Merry's deck. I ignored Johnny's staring as I came back up and as I removed the dirty bandages, and I meant that there was more than just blood on them, I asked "So what happened?"

Usopp returned at that point and I pulled on a set of rubber gloves and began cleaning the wound as Johnny said "He got a small hit when we were bringing in a bounty, but it wasn't anything we hadn't handled before, it was done bleeding within an hour even. But a few days ago, he began losing consciousness, his teeth started falling out, and his old wound opened up and started bleeding again. I didn't know what to do, so I had him resting on that island over there, but then a cannonball came from this ship!"

I glanced up at Usopp and Luffy who had their eyes bugged and their jaws dropped before they gave short bows and said together "I am so sorry." Snorting slightly at that, I looked back down at the cleaned wound and seeing that for all of the blood on the old bandages it wasn't _too_ bad, secured a gauze pad on it with tape then rewrapped his torso with a fresh roll of bandages from the First Aid kit as I said "Sounds like scurvy to me."

"Sounds like it to me as well." Nami said with a nod of agreement before she snapped her fingers and pointed at Luffy and Usopp and said "There are limes in the kitchen, grab twelve of them, the juicer, and a big bowl."

"Yes ma'am!" The two resident idiots said with salutes before they rushed back into the kitchen. They came back a moment later and as Nami began juicing the limes, I pulled off my gloves, turning them inwards and temporarily pocketing them until I could properly clean them and packed up the iodine bottle I had used as I said "Scurvy's a dangerous thing to catch, but pretty easily treated. Soon as we get some Vitamin C in him, he should be fine with a little more bed rest."

"Amazing! Hey, Matt, you never said that you were a doctor!" Luffy said with stars in his eyes.

"I'm not." I said with a shrug before I winced as Nami slammed her fist into our captain's head and said "Scurvy is something every sailor should know how to avoid if they're going to sail on a ship you idiot!" She then glanced back at me and said "Though you did seem to know what you were doing when you treated that wound. I'm guessing First Aid was one of the survival things you learned with that Boy Scout group you mentioned before?"

I nodded and as Nami finished juicing the limes, raised Yosaku into a sitting position. Taking the bowl from her, I said "While we can certainly 'specialize' in things we learn, every Boy Scout is taught First Aid as soon as we join, that way we can help not only ourselves, but others if we come across anyone wounded. At least until the professionals can get to us and/or them at least."

"Sounds like a good protocol to have." Nami said with approval.

I nodded again as I finished helping the still out of it Yosaku drink the juice and then laid him back down as I said "Alright, give him a few hours and he should regain consciousness on his own. Give him another couple of days and some more juice at meal times he'll be back to full health."

"Thank you very much!" Johnny said with a deep bow, tears visibly coming down from behind his sunglasses. I gave him a nod of acknowledgement and Johnny turned to Luffy and gave another bow as he said "My apologies for attacking your ship Captain. Permission for me and Yosaku to stay with you guys until he is better?"

Luffy grinned and said "You are friends with Zoro right? Stay as long as you want!"

Johnny gave a tearful smile as he gave yet another bow, this one in gratitude as he said "Thank you very much!"

Time Skip: That Night

We put Yosaku onto a bed of extra sheets and a quilt in the kitchen. Like I predicted, he woke up a few hours in and I had him drink two cups of juice along with the little bit of food he could stomach before he fell back into a much more peaceful sleep. As the rest of us sat around the kitchen table, Nami writing in the log book, she said "Let this be a lesson for the rest of us."

"Yeah, these kinds of things can happen on a long trip." Zoro said in agreement.

"Especially since we don't have much room for food on this ship." Usopp said in agreement.

"At least we won't have to worry about fresh water with the solar still I brought." I said with a grin, taking a drink of said distilled water from my duct tape cup.

"Still, we should get somebody who'd know about the dietary business." Nami said.

"Dietary eh?" Luffy asked as he bit into a bit of bread. A moment later, he stood up and said "I know! We need a sea cook, let's go look for one!"

"I get it! Then, we'd have all sorts of delicious food to eat!" Usopp said, standing up as well as he got excited like Luffy.

"EX-ACT-LY!" Luffy said, sticking out his tongue.

From where he was leaning against the stove with fist against face in a classic 'cool guy' pose, Johnny smiled and said "If you're looking for such a cook, I know where you could go." He then cocked his head and walked to stand in front of a sitting against the wall Zoro as he said "But, it's pretty close to the Grand Line, and the man that Big Bro Zoro's been hunting for, Hawk-Eye is around there too."

My eyes furrowed as I wondered if Johnny was talking about the _warlord_ Hawk-Eye, but kept my reservations as I saw the feral grin Zoro sported. At Luffy's eager nod, Johnny pointed and said "Then our heading is clear, we must head South-South West!* To the Floating Restaurant…the Baratie!"

"Well, if we were going to find a proper cook of the seas anywhere, it would be there." I said with a grin. An image of a ship in the shape of a giant fish popped up in my mind, my world knowledge providing the basic information of the restaurant as Johnny stated where our next destination would be. Seeing everyone looking at me, I continued "After all, it was built by 'Red Leg' Zeff, who was not only the captain of his crew, but also its _chef_. If anyone can train a group of cooks to handle the open seas, it'll be the man who spent a year in the Grand Line and came out no worse for wear."**

"AMAZING!" Luffy and Usopp said with wide shining eyes.

"It seems we have our heading then." Nami said with a smile as she stood to make the needed corrections to our course.

"Yeah, to the Baratie!" Luffy shouted eagerly.

Time Skip: The Next Day

Even knowing what she looked like, the Baratie was impressive in person. Luffy of course was drooling in anticipation of good food, though considering he had asked if we could grill the giant fish upon sight he might have also been fantasizing about eating a giant fish. Still, as amazing as the restaurant looked, there was something else catching my attention. Hearing a second ship pulling up alongside ours, I glanced back and called out "Marine Vessel off our Starboard Stern."

"EH?!" The others asked, spinning around to look, Johnny immediately dashing into the kitchen where Yosaku was just waking up again, pushing him back in so that the two would be out of sight.

As the Marine vessel pulled up alongside us, I took in how while it was longer than us by about fifteen feet, it had the same amount of decks above water and said "Relax guys, I doubt there's anyone important on a ship that small."

"What was that?!" A pink haired man in a black lined white suit, screws on the first knuckles of his hands shouted, slamming one of said hands down on the railing. Leaning in with a sneer, he said "I'm the Marine Lieutenant, Iron Fist, Fullbody!"

"Like I said, no one important." I said with a scoff. Now, if there had been a _captain_ on board, we would have had trouble.

Fullbody grit his teeth with a growl before he seemed to gather himself and said "Hey, who's your captain? Show yourself!"

Luffy strode up and said "I am Monkey D. Luffy." I saw Usopp take a step up as well before I yanked him back by his overalls, slapping a hand over his mouth as I did so. When Usopp glared back at me, I said "This is no time for bluster."

Usopp grumbled at that but gave a reluctant nod so I removed my hand and turned my focus back on the other conversation.

Luffy glanced back at us for a moment before he turned back around and said "Our Pirate Mark was made a few days ago!"

Fullbody scoffed and said "So I'm dealing with a bunch of amateurs, what a pain." His eyes then darted to the left where Johnny and Yosaku were hiding behind the Kitchen door watching and said "Though I do believe that I have seen those two before. You two claim to be pirate hunters don't you? Well to me it looks like you're the ones who have been captured, pathetic."

"Hey, don't mock us!" Yosaku yelled as they stepped away from the door and Johnny nodded as he reached into his jacket then threw a bunch of bounty posters to the side and said "We've captured plenty of pirates!" The posters drifted down to the ground, and sure enough several of them had Xs drawn on them, though it was noticeable that they were all in the thousands range, not a single one over ninety thousand. Nami stiffened as she saw one particular unmarked bounty, the Navigator crouching down to pick it up.

"Hmph, whatever." Fullbody said dismissively before his apparent date, a blonde in a red dress, stepped up to his side and said "Dear, stop wasting your time with these people, let's go."

"Of course my dear." Fullbody said, walking away causing the two bounty hunters to grumble at being ignored. My eyes narrowed when I saw Fullbody make a thumb's down at a pair of Marines like he was an emperor preceding over the gladiatorial arena and I said "Head's up people, it looks like they're gonna try and sink us."

"What?!" Usopp asked in alarm, before pointing as one of the cannons on the ship rolled out of its gun port and said "Matt's right, they're about to shoot at us!"

Before I could blast the Marines manning the cannon away from their post, Luffy shouted "I got it!" I watched as he wrapped his legs around the railing and stretched his arms out so that way he could grab our mast with one hand and Merry's figurehead with the other. The cannonball fired and hit him in the torso sending him flying back and he called out "Gum Gum Slingshot!" But just as he reached the extent of his stretching, Merry's figurehead splintered under his grip making him swing to stern. My eyes widened as he shot back forward releasing the cannonball which slammed into the upper level of the Baratie. As Luffy slammed into Merry's neck, I face palmed and muttered to myself "Damn it, of course we would have to do the 'damage a food establishment and thus have to serve as waiters' cliché, this wouldn't be an anime if we didn't."

Usopp apparently felt the same way as he clapped a hand on Luffy's shoulder and said "Well, _Captain_, it looks like you get to explain to the restaurant people why you blew a hole in their roof."

"Ah, why me?!" Luffy asked in alarm.

"Because you're the idiot who launched the cannonball at them." Zoro said uncaringly and Luffy began to whine.

Sighing, I said "I've got experience with building houses since my dad was a Contractor, I'll see if they'll accept my help in repairing the wall in negating the repair bill. Come on Luffy." With that said, I put one of the points of my glider under Luffy's shoulder then spun it, a blast of wind aiding the motion in throwing Luffy towards the ship before I opened the glider and took off after him. I quickly caught up with his thrown form and Luffy gave me a puppy eyed look as he asked "Do we have to?"

"Yes." I said flatly.

Luffy let out a word less whine before he shot his hand out to the railing near where the blown out hole was, retracting the arm and pulling himself the rest of the way in a semi controlled manner. I increased my speed and landed next to him before I walked over to the hole. Once there, we saw three chefs fretting over the head chef, identifiable by the large hat sitting on his bedside table and I said "Excuse me, who do I talk to about explaining what just happened?" (It was only polite to ask)

"That would be me!" The man on the bed said, gesturing for the others to move aside. I winced at the blood stain over his eye though that didn't prevent me from also noticing his peg leg as he stood up and said "I am Head Chef Zeff, care to tell me why you thought it was a good idea to blow a hole in my restaurant?!"

Luffy opened his mouth, but even having only spent a few days with him, I knew he was an idiot so I slapped my hand over his mouth and said "We were fired upon by the Marines by order of one Marine Lieutenant 'Iron Fist' Fullbody. My captain here has a paramecia devil fruit that turned him into rubber and tried to slingshot it back at their vessel but accidentally wound up pointed towards this one instead when he released the Cannonball. May I suggest you bill the Marines for the cost of repairs while I do the actual repairing. I _do_ have experience in housebuilding, worked for roughly ten years with a framing crew."

Zeff stared first at me, then Luffy with narrowed eyes before he glanced at the hole we were looking into the room through. Finally, he snorted and said "Your idea has merit. However, that doesn't cover the medical side of things. You." He pointed at Luffy who gulped and said "In order to pay for my medical expenses, you shall work for me for one month without pay."

Luffy gulped, sweat pouring down his face, but a glance at me had him nodding and I removed my hand from his mouth as he said "Alright."

"Then it's settled." Zeff said as he stood up. Glancing at me, he said "We have the number of a nearby lumber yard, but it will take a short while to reach us here. However, I expect you to be working on the hole no later than seven o'clock tomorrow morning."

"Of course sir." I said with a respectful nod even as I stepped through said hole, pulling Luffy with me. Zeff nodded before a _dangerous_ look appeared in his eyes and I was rather quickly reminded that peg leg or no, this man had taken on the Grand Line for a full year as he stomped out of the room and said "Good, then follow me, I have a Marine to _talk_ with."

We followed him out of the room, the three chefs quickly heading elsewhere when Zeff barked a command at them, and followed him downstairs. When we reached the ground floor, Zeff's eyes narrowed on the pink haired man with metal on his hands pushing his date's chair closer to the table and pointing said "Is that the man who ordered your ship to be fired upon?"

"It is." I said and Zeff let out a grunt before he strode through the tables and clapped his hand on Fullbody's shoulder. By the way Fullbody stiffened and his own hand snapped up to begin trying to immediately pry said hand off, Zeff had a rather strong grip on it. Zeff leaned forward and said something to Fullbody that had him pale so much, even Luffy and I could see it from where we were still by the stairs. Zeff said something to his date before he literally dragged Fullbody back to the stairs, snagging a blonde man in a black suit as he did so.

When Zeff returned to the stairs, he gestured at his fellow blond and said "This is Sanji, our Sous Chef, and for the next month, you do as he says, bus boy. Carpenter, I will see you in the morning."

"Yes sir." I said, watching as Zeff literally dragged the whimpering Marine Officer up the stairs before I turned to Sanji and held out my hand and said "Hi there, name's Matt, I'll be repairing your wall tomorrow. This is Luffy, who will be working off your boss' medical bills."

Sanji accepted the hand shake and said "Like the shitty Head Chef said, my name's Sanji." Dropping my hand, he turned his gaze onto Luffy and pointed his thumb over his shoulder as he said "Come on, there's a spare apron in the kitchen we can get you while I tell you what you will be doing here." The Sous Chef put his hand on Luffy's shoulder and lead the rubber man away, Luffy letting out a slight whine as he was led away.

I shook my head at the sight before I saw the rest of the crew enter the restaurant and went to tell them about our not so planned vacation. Even if Manga logic said that something would come up in the near future to interrupt said vacation.

END

Author's Notes: Poll and Update Schedule on Profile

Like with the other two, a much better deal than Luffy staying at the Baratie for a year has been reached, and Fullbody got what's coming to him.

*I KNOW that he actually says North-North East, but considering that the Reverse Mountain is in the SOUTH part of the East Blue, that makes no damn Geographical Sense, and as Tekking101 is fond of saying, _Geography is everything_!

**Remember that the Orbit was an East Blue ship, NOT a Grand Line one.


	5. Chapter 5

5\. A Hungry Pirate

Story Start: The Baratie

Sanji quickly returned after getting Luffy an apron. It seemed that even though he was the Sous Chef, he was pulling double duty as a waiter as well. Not that he seemed to have a problem with that job. He came out of the kitchen completely loaded to bare, dishes lining both arms and one leg, _somehow_ moving around in a way that nothing fell off the plates, not even the soups in their bowls, even when he _hopped down the stairs one legged_.

I shook that little mystery off as 'Anime logic, ignore' and took a glance through the menu. I had just decided on trying the bacon and cheddar brisket (_bacon_, mmm) when Sanji came to our table, notepad and pencil at the ready. He gave Nami a deep theatrical bow and said "My fair lady, I thank you for gracing us with your angelic presence. Please, tell this lowly chef what it is you so desire and I will endeavor to make it the most memorable meal you have eaten!"

As Nami gave a pretty blush that I was pretty sure was half for show, half genuine, I glanced upwards towards the ceiling and thought to myself 'Oh boy, we've got a Casanova here, I just hope he's not the kind to be antagonistic to the same gender as himself.'

"And what shall you bastards lucky enough to travel with this beautiful swan have?" Sanji asked after taking Nami's order.

'Called it.' I thought in amusement as the others gave their orders. When it came to me, I gave my order but also said "Hey Sous Chef, do you think you guys could make us a pitcher of a custom drink? I'm not entirely sure if you guys would know it but it's a pretty simple recipe."

"Hm?" Sanji hummed in curiosity before nodding and said "If you know the recipe then we can make it, easy."

Nodding, I put my hand in my pants pocket and pulled out my phone. Ignoring the odd look Sanji was giving the, by this world's standards, technological wonder, I pulled up the Safari internet app and quickly found what I was looking for. Holding the phone up for Sanji to see, I said "Here's the recipe."

Sanji quickly jotted down the recipe on a fresh page in his notebook even as he mused to himself "Applewood Julep eh, that's a South Blue drink I believe, yeah, we can make this for you no problem." And with that, Sanji quickly moved back into the kitchen.

"What's Applewood Julep?" Usopp asked with a cocked head.

Leaning back a little in my chair and putting away my phone, I said "It's a mix of a quart of unsweetened apple juice, a cup of unsweetened pineapple juice, a cup of orange juice, a quarter cup of lemon juice, all chilled, and a little bit of fresh mint sprigs. I figured I wouldn't be able to have it for a while given I'll be on a ship for long periods of time so I thought we could have it here."

"Hm, the mint at least would be rather hard to keep around without a dedicated garden on board." Nami said, nodding her head in agreement.

"It does sound interesting." Usopp said.

"Whatever, it ain't Sake so I don't care." Zorro said with a snort.

"_Heathen_." I hissed under my breath, only half joking. Zoro cocked his eyebrow at me but before he could say anything, Sanji was back, carrying a pitcher that had condensation on it denoting its chilled nature and several glasses, enough regular sized ones filled with water for us and a small stack of shot glasses as well. Setting the pitcher down in the center of our table and beginning to hand out the water, Nami first obviously, Sanji smiled and said "Here you are my lady and her hanger-ons, one pitcher of Applewood Julep."

"Oi, hanger-ons?" Usopp said lowly with an unimpressed look.

Me, I chose to ignore that little bit of gender specific trolling and instead poured myself a shot of the julep. Giving it a sip, I closed my eyes for a moment before I nodded and gave a thumb's up to Sanji as I said "Yep, that's Applewood Julep alright, I'm impressed you guys mixed it up so quickly. It usually takes me ten minutes to get everything measured out then mixed."

"You must not mix drinks often then sir, for something as simple as this, it is no trouble at all." Sanji said, pleased with my approval.

I snorted and said "You got that right. Usually my 'mixing' is limited to chocolate and strawberry syrup in my milk."

Sanji allowed a snort to pass through his nose as well as he said "Plebian. I suppose given how you shall be here for a while I shall have to show you how to _properly_ mix chocolate and strawberries into your milk. But for now, please enjoy the Julep while we work on your orders. They shall be out shortly." And with that, he gave an elaborate bow to Nami before zipping back into the kitchen.

Chuckling as he rose out of sight up the stair case, I looked at the rest of the currently captain less crew and knocked back my shot glass and said "I like him."

"You like him." Usopp repeated flatly.

I shrugged and as I refilled the shot glass said "Anyone willing to properly interact with the customers rather than just take orders and bring out food can't be too bad at their job."

"Eh, fair enough I guess." Usopp said with a shrug as he moved to pour his own shot before he stiffened and said "Head's up, that Marine guy is coming back down."

We all watched as the Lieutenant walked down the stairs. His cocky attitude was quite diminished, the pink haired marine looking like he had the wind taken out of his sails quite efficiently. He slowly made his way back to the table his date was sitting at and less sat down and more fell down into his seat. His date asked him a question, concern plain on her face and he answered her before he began spooning his soup.

A few minutes later, Sanji and Luffy came down the stairs again, Sanji placing our appetizers on the table in front of us while Luffy carried a large tub towards the tables where customers were finished eating. He _looked_ like he wanted to head to the tables where there was still food on the plates, but when Sanji glanced towards him, he stiffened with a full bodied shiver before he went back to collecting empty plates, whistling as he resolutely kept his gaze away from the cook.

Raising an eyebrow at the sight, I said "Geeze, what'd you do to him? When I joined this crew a few days ago I had to fight him off at meal times."

Sanji smirked and said "I merely told him I knew a few recipes for monkey meat that I'd like to try out if he wanted to volunteer."

That got Usopp and Zoro snickering and Nami giggled into her hand. I smirked and said "Mou, that was rather mean of you Mr. Chef."

"Perhaps, but if it keeps him from misbehaving then I will use it." Sanji said with a smirk.

There was the sound of mismatched footsteps on the stairs and we glanced over to see Zeff coming down the stairs. His eyes roamed over his kingdom as he made sure nothing was disrupting the customers. Fullbody stiffened fearfully as Zeff eyed him for a moment and the Head Chef smirked viciously for a moment before scanning the rest of the restaurant. I eyeballed yet another chef coming out of the hall that had a restroom sign on it, this guy looking like a top heavy Cuban with pop eye arms and thin legs. The man was drying his hands on his apron before everyone's attention was brought to the restaurant entrance as the double doors slammed open.

In the door way was a panicking Marine who shouted "L-Lieutenant! Lieutenant Fullbody! We've got a problem! The Pirate Krieg's man has escaped!"

"What?!" Fullbody asked in a panic.

"We've already lost seven of our men sir." The scared Marine said.

"That's ridiculous! When we got him three days ago, he was about to starve to death! And we haven't fed him yet, have we?" Fullbody said, stunned at how apparently an on death's door pirate could escape his brig.

As the customers began getting scared as well talking about how Krieg was the strongest of the East Blue, I noticed both Sanji and Zeff's eyes hardening when they heard that Fullbody had been starving the prisoner. Before I could figure out if that was just their pride as chefs talking or something else, a gunshot rang out and everyone's attention snapped back to the entrance.

The marine was lying on the floor, clutching at his bleeding right shoulder. And behind him, walking on slightly unsteady legs, was a man looking like death warmed over. The pirate made his way to an empty table and sat down, putting one of his feet on the table as he said "I don't care what it is, but bring me some food."

The Pop Eye look alike waiter came up to the table with hands clasped and said "But of course, you crook. But ah, do you have any money to pay for your meal?"

The gun the pirate was holding clicked as it appeared in the waiter's face. (And HOW that works is a question of anime physics I will never understand.) Giving the waiter a dead eyed look, the pirate said "Do you accept bullets?"

The chef's face fell flat and he said "That would be a no to having money then." The next instant, the chef slammed a fist down into the pirate's gut, sending him crashing through the chair and into the floor.

"Oi Patty, don't go breaking my chairs you bastard!" Zeff barked out.

"Wow, what power!" Usopp said in surprise.

"Meh, I could do better." Me and Zoro said simultaneously, the two of us eyeing each other with smirks when we realized we had spoken at the same time.

Usopp's expression went flat and he said "Zoro, you're not human, and Matt, using your Devil Fruit abilities would be cheating."

"And your point is?" Zoro asked causing Usopp to grumble to himself.

Meanwhile, the now named Patty was beating the Krieg Pirate to cheers of the customers and other chefs who had taken positions on the stairwell railing. A loud growling sound interrupted the beating and Patty grinned as he said "Oh ho, your stomach's growling quite loudly there, you filthy pirate."

"Shut up, it's just gas." The pirate bit out.

Patty snorted and kicked the pirate a few times to more cheers before he gave the customers a curtsey before dragging the pirate out. I noticed that Fullbody was quickly escorting his date out of the doors just in front of him. Clearly, he wanted nothing to do with this restaurant. I glanced back at the rest of the captain less crew and said "Yeesh, the guy could have at least given him a loaf of bread then sent him on his way rather than just beat him up like that."

The other three made noises of agreement and Sanji gave a short bow as he said "If you will excuse me, I believe that I shall go check on the progress of your food."

He turned to leave and joined Luffy at the stairs, the rubber man's arms full of dirty dishes. Zeff followed the pair after a moment and I smirked as I said "Check on our food's progress, right."

"Matt?" Usopp asked with a confused tilt of his head.

Chuckling a little, I said "I'm genre savy enough to guess that he's going to make that guy a quick but proper meal. Two hundred Beri says that guy winds up our chef."

Nami grinned and said "I'll take that action!"

Still chuckling, I poured myself another cup of Julep and took a sip as I went back to waiting for the rest of our food to arrive, plans of what I could do with us staying around in one place for supposedly a month running through my head as I did so.

END

Author's Notes: Update Schedule and Poll on Profile

Well, this is the last chapter before my Zoan and Logia versions of Pirate King's Tailor is caught up. It is now time to add onto the Tyrant of the Seas potential story intro. Once that's ready to be published I'll take down the current poll so if you haven't already take a gander at it.


	6. Chapter 6

6\. Lessons Of Observation, Blades, And Guns

Story Start: Lieutenant Fullbody's Ship, After Lunch

Shooting over the ocean waves on my glider, I pulled up to the Marine vessel that had _TRIED_ to sink our own and called out "Ahoy there! I require information, you may either give it to me willingly or I will take it by force! However, I give you my word that I shall not attack unless attacked first!"

"And how can we trust a filthy pirate's word?!" A Marine asked, him and several of his shipmates aiming rifles at me though not yet firing.

I raised an eyebrow and said "Need I remind you that it was you guys who tried to sink the ship of a crew that only got their flag a few days ago? Even though we are pirates, we have committed no crimes and our only conflicts so far have been with other pirates." I then smirked and said "Besides, all I want is a little bit of information and then I'll be gone, is that really worth the ass kicking I will give you guys if you don't tell me what I want?"

"You think you can take all of us on?! You're insane!" Another Marine shouted, his buddies all laughing and shouting agreements.

I sighed before I did a quick Rising Cobra and flashed my leg forward in a kick. A noticeable trough formed in the ocean in front of me and the ship for a hundred yards before the water rushed back into place, the vessel beside me rocking and rolling in the turbulence before settling down again. As the Marines scrambled back to their feet with gob smacked looks, I gave them a flat look and said "Logia."

"Noted." The second Marine squeaked out.

All of the Marines now looked nervous as the first one swallowed and said "I shall get the Commander sir."

"You go do that." I said with a smirk and he quickly darted into the ship's wheel house.

When he returned with the Commander, who had a very sour expression on his face, I asked "Permission to come aboard Commander?"

The Commander's sour face worsened before he bit out "Against my better judgement, Granted."

Swinging in and landing, I turned my glider back into its staff form and said "Thank you for being reasonable. Just give me what I want and we can all forget the other side even exists."

"And what DO you want Pirate?" The Commander asked.

"Any and all current information you have on the Krieg Pirates. This crew was the one to catch that member right?" I said, head cocked at the end.

"We were, though he didn't give us much." The Commander admitted.

"Commander, why are you speaking to that Filthy Pirate?!" A bruised and battered Fullbody demanded as he came from below deck, applied bandages and gauze pads showing that he had most likely been in the infirmary when I had been spotted on approach.

"Because he's not an idiot." I said flatly giving Fullbody a gimlet stare. The wind around me began to whip around stronger than before and several of the Marines took several hasty steps back as I continued "Now unless you want me to launch you a mile out to sea, kindly stay quiet while we conduct our business and then I'll leave."

Maybe it was because of the beating Sanji gave him that the others had told me about. Maybe it was the scared looks on his subordinates faces that clued him in. Maybe it was even his instincts telling him not to mess with me. Either way, Fullbody stopped his approach and merely scowled at me. Either way, unless he did something stupid, I wasn't going to bother with him.

Turning back to the Commander, I raised an eyebrow and asked "So what DO you have?"

"Krieg's fleet was demolished. There was only the flag ship left when we spotted it and it was in extremely bad shape. Our prisoner led us away by making us think that he was Krieg trying to escape by life boat. When interrogated, the pirate said that they had TRIED to go into the Grand Line only to run into a man fitting the description of the Warlord Dracule Mihawk. He single-handedly took out the rest of Krieg's fleet and their flagship somehow made its way through the calm belt back into the East Blue. He wouldn't tell us where the survivors were though." The Commander said.

"I see." I said, eyes closed as I took this in before I nodded and said "Thank you for your cooperation Commander, I'll be leaving now."

As I turned around and hopped onto the railing, the Commander asked "Why did you want to know?"

I glanced over my shoulder and said "I had heard that the pirate had been starving before you grabbed him. It's likely his buddies were too and he had escaped at a restaurant. What do you think he will do when he leaves?"

Fullbody scowled and said "We'll gather a task force and return immediately."

"If you're smart you'll do no such thing. If Krieg spots a single seagull flag he'll book it, recover his strength and numbers somewhere else and still be a problem. Leave him to us, I'll recommend to the owner that he calls you guys when the fighting's done." I said before I turned my head back forward and leapt up into the air, glider opening as I did so. I circled over the ship once before I turned back the way I had come from and shot back to the Baratie.

Time Skip: Thirty Minutes Later, Deck Of The Merry

"YOU WENT TO THE MARINES?!" Nami shouted with shark teeth.

"They had that Krieg Pirate for three days and were the ones to capture him. They were my best bet to get information." I explained with a shrug.

"I know I'm not going to like this, but why did you want that information?" Usopp asked nervously.

I sighed and said "The guy was starving. His buddies are almost surely starving. Logically, he's going to bring them here. And if simple Logic can't be trusted then you can be sure _Anime_ Logic can be. Those guys are GOING to show up. It's best if we know what we'll be up against because I can guarantee you Luffy's going to wind up in a fight with the guy. He IS the Main Character in the source material after all."

"Damn it, why does this keep happening?" Nami asked, knocking her fist against her skull.

"I don't know why you're complaining; it's not like YOU would be the one fighting." Zoro said with a smirk.

"Of course I'm going to have to fight! It's said that Krieg has fifty ships under him!" Nami yelled, shark teeth reappearing.

"Actually it's just the flag ship now. The rest of the fleet got shredded by the Warlord Mihawk when they entered the Grand Line." I said.

Nami visibly calmed down as Zoro's gaze sharpened and he asked "They ran into Mihawk?"

I nodded and said "Yeah, I don't know if he would pursue them out of the Grand Line or not, but if he had nothing better to do then there's a good chance, for pride in finishing a job if nothing else."

"Excellent." Zoro said with a savage grin.

My gaze turned flat and I said "Zoro, he would kill you in the blink of an eye. Even if I could get you up to my ability with Armament Haki within an hour and you had a whole week to get used to using it, it STILL wouldn't be enough to take him on."

"Zoro Bro won't be beat that easily!" Johnny declared, Yosaku nodding his agreement.

"Mihawk is the World's Greatest Swordsman, he is easily capable of slicing _mountains in half_ you idiots!" I snapped at them.

"Eep!" The pair yelped at my glare, hugging each other and paling.

Snorting, I turned back to Zoro and said "Zoro, I respect your strength to hell and back, but believe me when I say this. You. Are. _NOT_. Ready."

Zoro eyed me calmly and the tension around us steadily racked up. A minute into our staring contest, Zoro said "I have made a promise to be the best swordsman in the world. If a chance comes to make that a reality, I will not let it pass me by, it would forever shame me."

"You will die." I said.

Zoro's lips twitched and he said "Then I die."

I growled low in my throat at those three words and how cavalier he was with them. My eyes scrunched shut for a moment before they snapped open and I said "Come with me. Johnny, Yosaku, you as well." Spinning on my heel, I began walking to the stairs.

"Matt?" Usopp asked in confusion as the three did as told, the Bounty Hunter pair trading a confused look with each other.

"If Zoro insists on being an idiot then it would be bad form of me not to do my best to increase his chances, however slimly, and I HATE repeating myself so I might as well teach the other two as well."

"But you're not a swordsman." Nami felt the need to point out.

"No, but I am a Wind Elemental." I said cryptically.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Usopp asked, though I ignored him.

Hopping up onto the kitchen roof, I waited until the other three joined me before I pointed in front of me and ordered "SIT."

Zoro raised an eyebrow but did as told, Johnny and Yosaku flanking him. Crossing my arms, I said "Normally, I would have waited until after you got a good grasp on using Armament and Observation Haki before I explained this. However, while I believe that I can help you unlock Observation fairly quickly, there are no short cuts to doing so with Armament so I must change my plans. Once Mastered, what I am about to teach you three will not only allow you to slice stone and metal easily, it will also allow you to use the advanced sword technique called the Flying Slash, also known as the Wind Blade."

Seeing their already intent gazes sharpen further, I took in a deep breath and said "It is a universal truth that even if we can't see it, everything is in constant motion. Even a pebble lying on the side of a road is constantly making microscopic motions. These motions are called vibrational frequencies, though most people call them an object's heartbeat, and even the very air around you has one due to the molecules that composes it. If you can learn to hear these heartbeats, if you strike in between them, no matter how durable the object is, you will slice it like it was naught but paper. Allow me to demonstrate."

Turning, I moved off of the roof and set myself down on the railing at the stern of the ship. Pulling my glider off of my back, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, and turned on my air sense for the second time that day, the first having been to track down the fleeing Marine vessel. After a few moments, my eyes snapped open and my staff lashed out in a vertical half spin. A slice was carved into the ocean for a hundred yards throwing water to either side before it rushed to fill the void again, causing all of the nearby vessels to rock violently, well except for the Baratie, that one swayed up and down a lot more gently.

Putting my glider back away, I turned back to face the other three and said "Observation Haki will likely make this process quicker but I'm interested if any of you will make any progress in this before I show you guys after dinner. Good luck."

And with that, I hopped off of the railing and went inside to go play on my Switch for a few hours leaving the three swordsmen to attempt to learn an advanced technique on their own.

Time Skip: That Evening, In The Port Rigging

Everyone including Luffy were sitting in the rope ladder leading up to the yard arm and crow's nest, Luffy up top, Nami and Usopp below him, and the three swordsmen below them. I was hovering in front of them in the air with legs and arms crossed as I said "Alright guys, I told you before that I would teach you about Haki. Haki is...well, the best words I can use to describe it are 'Applied Bullshit'. It lets you detect what a person attacking you will do, increase the impact of your own attacks while at the same time allowing you to hit the intangible, and for the rare few, exert your dominance over others, usually by knocking them out."

"Uh, what's dominance mean?" Luffy asked.

"Power and influence over others." I explained. At Luffy's quiet 'ah' I continued my explanation and said "Haki is split apart into three main categories: Observation, Armament, and Conqueror's. The first two anyone can learn but the third you have to be born with to use it." Nodding at Luffy, I said "I _think_ Luffy might have that last one. Not only is he a D, which are said to be the enemies of the gods, his goal is to be the King of the Pirates, and it would make sense that someone with that kind of ambition would have it." 'Not to mention it would make sense for the main character to have it.' I thought to myself.

"Shishishi." Luffy laughed with a grin as the others glanced up at him considering.

Gathering everyone's attention again, I said "I'll go over Conqueror's a little more with you at a later time Luffy, but for now I'll focus on the other two. Observation is first and its uses are many. You can use it to sense others if they are hidden from your other senses or too far away to detect normally, sense a person's emotional state, predict an opponent's moves shortly before they make them, and true masters can see up to a full minute into the future, though only in snippets for that. It's also possible for two Observation users to communicate semi telepathically thanks to the emotion sensing, kind of like how people who have worked together for a long time don't need to actually speak to have a conversation with each other."

"On the flip side of the Haki coin we have Armament Haki. As the name suggests, its primary purpose is to defend the user. There are two stages, the first forms an invisible shield around what's being protected while the second, stronger form turns the effected object black." I held up my right fist in demonstration and a moment later it was gleaming black. Dropping both the technique and my fist, I continued "Armament Haki is more than a shield though, it's also a weapon. For starters, Armament Haki negates Devil Fruit abilities if those abilities alters the user's body. For instance, say you're fighting a guy that can turn into, oh I don't know, let's go with gelatin. A normal hit wouldn't affect the guy because his body would just turn into gelatin when hit. However, use Armament in your strikes and it would be just like hitting a normal person. And it doesn't have to be a body part doing the striking either, if you're using a weapon like a sword you can imbue your Haki into it. Most higher class swordsmen do so as a matter of course in order to prevent chip damage or outright shattering of their blades in combat."

Zoro's hand drifted over his sword hilts at that and his gaze turned more intent. Nodding my head to Zoro, I said "In fact, there's something called a Black Sword/Blade. It's where a person has used Haki so often with their weapon that it has become permanently black. If you guys see someone with one of these swords before you hit the second half of the Grand Line my advice is to run like hell away from the user if they're not focused on you."

"A-and if they ARE focused on us?" Usopp asked, shakily raising his hand like a student in class.

I gave him a grim smile and said "Then you should promptly bend over and kiss your ass goodbye, though chances are that if you wait a moment you won't actually have to bend over to do so." My gaze turned downwards towards Zoro and said "Dracule Mihawk's sword Yoru is most DEFINITELY a Black Blade."

"Eh, why are you mentioning this hawk guy all of a sudden Matt?" Luffy asked in confusion.

My eyes narrowed and I said "Earlier today I learned that it was Mihawk who wiped out Krieg's Fleet, forcing their flag ship to retreat back into the East Blue. There's a chance that he'll follow them and Zoro here has the absolutely incredibly STUPID idea to challenge him if that is the case."

"So? If Zoro wants to fight this guy, let him fight." Luffy said with a grin.

"He'll die though!" I snapped, jerking my gaze upwards towards Luffy with a snarl of anger.

Luffy studied me seriously for a moment before he glanced down and asked "Zoro, is this hawk guy the one you said you wish to meet?"

"Ah." Zoro said with a nod.

Luffy closed his eyes for a moment before he said "I rather like my insides being inside of me, do as you want."

"Heh, glad you understand." Zoro said with a smirk.

My face met my palm and I said "Great, we're going to be down a First Mate soon."

"Don't worry, I'm sure everything will be fine, Zoro's strong after all, Shishishi!" Luffy said, laughing at the end.

"Not strong enough." I muttered. After a few moments, I shook my head hard and said "Whatever, he's not here now so let's go back to Armament Haki. There's one last thing, actually make that two. First, an advanced user of Armament Haki can create a shield of the stuff a short distance away from the user's body without a medium. Second, there is another, much harder technique, where you can _push_ your Haki into another object and destroy it from the inside."

"COOL!" Usopp and Luffy shouted, stars in their eyes.

"That depends entirely on what you use that trick on. I've seen what a human body exploding looks like, and you're going to need more than a mop to clean THAT mess up." I said with a dark smirk.

Four out of the five people in front of me turned a decidedly unhealthy green at the mental image I just gave them and even Zoro looked slightly disturbed. Shaking his head to clear that image, the Santoryu user asked "So what do we need to do to learn these techniques?"

"Well, like I told you, Johnny, and Yosaku earlier today, I know a bit of a shortcut in getting you guys able to use Observation Haki. And even under normal circumstances if I knew a way to make it easier to learn Armament as well I would still teach you Observation first. After all, there's a reason why the saying 'Never take what you can block and never block what you can dodge' is still around. Anyways, if you're willing to trust me then I think you will be able to use Observation Haki before bed time."

"Why would we need to trust you?" Nami asked suddenly suspicious.

I let out a shrug and said "I couldn't really do this for myself because I'd have no way to end it but I think that if I put you all into a light hypnotic trance then I can make it easier for you guys to use Observation Haki the first time. After that it'd just be a matter of practice."

Nami crossed her arms with a frown and said "You don't actually expect me to allow you to hypnotize me do you? Who knows what you'd do with a beautiful girl like me under your control?"

I shrugged again and said "Then I guess you don't mind spending a few months sitting still meditating or trying to dodge someone attacking you with a blindfold on."

"Er, well..." Nami said, eyes shifting side to side before she sighed and said "Fine. BUT! I want you to record this so that way I know that nothing fishy happened!"

I rolled my eyes and pulled out my phone, setting it to record before putting it in my coat pocket. With that done, I said "Alright, unfortunately, I don't have a pocket watch to swing in front of you guys or a spiral to make you watch so we're going to be doing this old school with a visualization exercise." Wind began to blow past the five in a variable but continuous gust, becoming stronger then weaker in pulses that were in time with my heartbeat as I said "Everyone close your eyes. I want you all to picture yourselves on a grassy hill. It's a perfect day out and all around you are people flying kites. Laid out on the hill in front of your feet are five kites, each one labeled with a word, Touch, Smell, Taste, Sight, and Hearing. Also in front of you are five stakes set into the hill. Give me a thumb's up when you have the image set."

Thumbs were quickly raised and I nodded as I said "Good, now here comes the hard part. I want you to connect your actual senses to those kites. Give me a thumbs up when you believe you have done so." The pulsing in the wind shifted tempos, becoming a slower beat that should help them go into a 'slower' state of thinking. Three minutes later, they once more all had thumbs up and I moved onto the next part.

"Alright, now that you have your senses connected to the kites, it's time to use those kites for their true purpose. Pick up the Touch Kite and send it up into the air. As the kite gets higher, your ability to feel that sense diminishes. Once it's a hundred feet high and you can't feel anything, tie Touch off on the first stake...Next up is Smell, release the kite into the wind and began letting out the string keeping it from blowing away, tying it off once it's at the same height as Touch...Following Smell is its counterpart Taste, allow the wind take it up with the other two and tie it off...Sight is next, allow it to drift away, you've done this enough times you don't actually need to see as you tie it off. Finally is Hearing, unlike all of the others, Hearing has a long tail tied to it. That tail is the sound of my voice, and even as Hearing raises up to join the others, it remains touching the ground, allowing you to hear me. With Hearing tied off, all of your senses have drifted away, leaving nothing but a veil of darkness around you."

I gave them all fifteen seconds in between removing each sense. When that was done, I said "Observational Haki transcends the normal senses, and everyone experiences it just that little bit differently. For some, it is sight beyond sight, for others, hearing beyond hearing. Your five senses have left you, leaving only darkness around you, but that does not mean that the world outside of that darkness has ceased to exist. Push through the darkness until you can once more detect things around you. When you do, make two thumbs up."

All of their brows furrowed to varying degrees as they did as told. Unsurprisingly given how good she was at detecting changes in weather patterns, Nami was the first to move her hands into the gesture, taking only thirty seconds to do so. Usopp was next, the Sniper's scrunched up face relaxing around fifty seconds in as he fisted his hands with raised thumbs. Zoro and Luffy were both within a minute of the Long Nose. Finally, Johnny and Yosaku made the gesture at around the three-minute mark.

Nodding to myself, I said "Alright guys we've got the hardest part done, you've broken the barrier to Observe the world. When you wake up, I want you to remember the feeling you got when you did so. But for now, it's time for your Sense kites to return to the ground. Reach forward and grab the string for Hearing, reeling it back in, your hearing coming back as you do so...Next is Sight, bring it back to the ground, restoring it as you do so...Taste comes back down next...now bring Smell to the ground...Finally bring Touch back to complete the set. Now that your senses have returned to you, I want you to once more try and use Observation Haki, give me a single thumb's up when you do so."

Nami and Usopp immediately gave a thumb's up, rapidly followed by Zoro and Luffy a few seconds in. It took Johnny and Yosaku about six seconds but they too soon had their thumbs up. Nodding, I said "Alright guys, remember to keep how you pierced the darkness in mind, able to recall perfectly how you did so as you come out of your trance, which will happen when I snap my fingers in three, two, one." SNAP!

As one, the five all twitched back to awareness and began blinking their eyes a few times. Shaking his head, Usopp said "Man, that felt weird."

"You were aware during it?" I asked mildly curious.

"Vaguely." Usopp said, making a wiggling so-so motion with his hand.

I hummed then shrugged and said "Probably because I didn't specify whether to forget or remember the session I guess."

"I still want to hear that recording." Nami said as she held her hand out for the phone.

Rolling my eyes as I took it out and drifted closer to them, I said "Geeze, it's like you don't trust me."

"Don't take it personally, I don't think she actually trusts anyone." Usopp said.

Nami snorted as she took the phone from my hand and said "I do too trust people, just not you guys THAT much."

"Fair enough." Usopp said before he seemed to turn his focus inwards. A moment later, he let out a startled "WHOA!" and jerked back. He would have fallen out of the rigging to the deck if I hadn't snatched his coveralls and pulled him back forward. Grinning nervously at me, he said "Heh, heh, thanks Matt."

I gave him a nod even as Luffy stretched his head down to look his Sniper over and asked ""Usopp! Are you alright?! What happened?!" Luffy asked in concern.

"Ah, yeah, I'm fine. I just tried using Observation Haki on the surrounding area and was surprised by what I sensed." Usopp said as he looked down into the ocean below the ship.

"Got blindsided by all of the microscopical life in the water, didn't you?" I asked with a slight smirk.

Usopp nodded strongly and said in an awed voice "I had no idea there was so many tiny things hanging around that we couldn't see!"

"Yeah, it can be a bit overwhelming at first I'll admit, but training will allow you to ignore all of those signals you're receiving in favor of all of the ones that matter on the human scale of things." I said with a nod. It really had been quite overwhelming that first time I got Haki working and was swarmed by thousands of soft voices that gathered together to make it seem like I was in a rock concert.

Nami frowned for a moment before she paused the recording and closed her eyes as she focused. A moment later, she gasped and said "Oh, that's beautiful!"

The others soon followed the two's examples and various exclamations were given, from Zoro's grunt of vague interest to Luffy's excited chattering with Johnny and Yosaku in the middle. Once they had gotten over their excitement, Zoro grunted again and asked "So now what?"

"Now? We practice." I said. I took my phone back from Nami then dropped down to the deck and began making my way for the entrance to below decks as I said "Come on, let's see if we've got a beach ball or something similar in storage we can roll to each other while blindfolded. If not, we can roll a cannon ball amongst each other."

"Right, because that's not dangerous at all." Nami muttered even as she and the others began following me. As a matter of fact, it turned out that there WAS a beach ball for us to use.

Time Skip: The Next Morning, Third Story Deck Of The Baratie

Sometime between after Luffy and I had talked with Zeff and this morning a couple of tarps had been put up to cover the hole in the wall. I now had those two set on the floor of the deck and the inside of the room, kept in place by some of Zeff's books and various nick knacks as I studied the hole. Said head chef was lounging in a chair on one side of the deck while on the other was all of the lumber and tools I would need for the job. Pouring himself a cup of freshly squeezed orange juice from a pitcher he had brought with him, Zeff said "Alright Carpenter, let's see these Construction Skills you spoke of."

"Right." I said with a nod before I cocked my head and said "First things first, need to pull the damaged boards off, preferably without widening the nail holes too much, then replace the brace, oh wait, that's three supports there, that'll be tricky, going to have to pry up some of the floor boards as well to get to those, will need to be extra careful doing that. Everything else is just cutting the boards to the right shape and attaching them to the undamaged sections."

Glancing over to Zeff, I said "Give me about two hours."

"Hmph, very well, get started." Zeff said gruffly.

I nodded and picked up the hammer and a wonder bar (mini crowbar) and began lightly tapping the bent end into the place where the top damaged board met the still good brace on the right side of the hole. Once I had it in far enough I used small taps of the hammer to carefully pry it loose, twisting the board on its x axis once it was separated enough to easily pry the nails out of their holes without putting any more damage on the wood then what was made when the board was first nailed in. Spend a few moments hammering the nails down so no one could get hurt stepping on them then set the board down to repeat with the next one below that.

As I put the last board down, Zeff said "You know, if you're going to take your time like that for everything, you won't finish in two hours."

"Would you rather I did MORE damage?" I asked before I moved over to the floor boards and began carefully prying them up. As I got the first one up, I said "Right now, I'm working on avoiding damaging the already aged parts of the floor and wall. Once I've got the new braces in I can pick up the pace since the new wood will be tougher."

"Hmph, I suppose you know what you're talking about." Zeff said boredly.

"Yep." I said with a slight nod. Once I had a row of floor boards up, I had enough room to work on the braces. Sawing the broken ends off at both the top and the bottom, I cut the new braces to the proper heights before I attached them to the old brace ends with a couple of four-hole straight connector plates on either end, pre drilling them with a small hand drill and using one inch screws on the two by fours to make sure I didn't collide the screws on one side with the other. Once all three braces were in and the floor boards replaced, I took a moment to have my own drink of the orange juice and said "Alright, that's the hard part done. Now I just need to cut the siding to the right lengths and set them in place."

Zeff merely grunted at that and I let out a half snort half huff at his gruff manner before I drained my glass and got back to it. For the braces, I had used the tape measure provided. I had gravity working with me for those though so for the side to side measurements I pulled out my phone and began using the Measure app I had on it. Not only would the phone not sag or waver thanks to gravity, it allowed me to store the measurements I took.

As I quickly got all of the numbers I would need Zeff said "That's a rather interesting device you've got there. I don't believe I've ever seen anything like it..."

"I'd be very surprised if you had." I said, leaving it at that. Zeff let out another grunt but didn't push the topic further. I cut all of the boards in one go, numbering them as I went. Once that was done, I slotted them into place on the wall, using the small hand drill to predrill holes in them as I went. Once they were all in place it was a simple matter of hammering the nails in and I was done.

A quick check of the time had me smirking at Zeff and I said "One hour and forty-eight minutes. And all that's left is the waterproof paint."

"Hmph, well come on then, I'll show you where it's kept and you can finish." Zeff said, getting out of his chair and stretching before stomping off down the deck.

"Righto!" I said, being deliberately chipper to counter his surliness. After all, the hard part was already done.

Time Skip: That Evening

Usopp and I were laying prone on either side of the Merry's Kitchen roof. Held in our hands were two of the rifles that were part of my spoils from wiping out the Bloody Path Pirates. We were sighting a twelve-unit pyramid of old cans on Merry's figurehead that the chefs of the Baratie had donated for us, the cans having lost their use from developing rust and small holes that leaked when filled. Apparently, one or two of the chefs of the Baratie usually did the same thing we did and use unusable cans for target practice.

We had the cloth covers of the guns folded to cover the gun barrels rather than the flintlock and trigger areas. There was a loading gap on the right side of the barrel to place a musket ball and powder combo cartridge straight into the back of the barrel that opened up when you pushed the trigger guard away from the trigger like one of the old style repeating rifles in my old world. Closing the mechanism after loading it Usopp said "I can't believe you talked me into trying one of these things."

"Slingshots are all well and good as a special weapon but that one in your pouch isn't very intimidating to others until they've seen you use it or you've gotten infamous for using it. If you want to REALLY make someone piss their pants right at the start, have a gun ready that you can have pointed in their face." I said as I loaded my own rifle. Looking down the sights, I held my breath then fired.

The first can was knocked off of the pyramid, hanging from the figurehead by the string attached to its bottom for easy recovery and a hole in the right side a couple of centimeters from the red line half of the cans had marked on them, the others marked blue. Usopp sighed and said "Fair enough I guess." As he fired and the next can fell off, his shot having hit the top right due to recoil, he side eyed me and said "And I think if you had said that earlier instead of making that bet for the week's chores I would have agreed sooner."

I shrugged as I reloaded and retook my sight picture as I said "Maybe, but chores are boring."

The third can jumped off of the pyramid and swung from the end of its line and Usopp chuckled as he said "You're not wrong there." His next shot was much closer to the center of the can and he sighed as he said "Getting used to the recoil of this thing is a pain though."

"That's why we practice." I said, reloading then firing.

"Maybe, I don't see why you're bothering with this though. I mean, can't you just blast a guy into orbit from a mile away with your devil fruit?" Usopp asked as another can jumped into the sky before bungie jumping.

"Well, I _could_ do that, and under normal circumstances I probably will go with my devil fruit abilities first. But there may come a time where it wouldn't be a good idea to use it, like when dealing with people who take the devil part of that name literally and try to burn me at the stake, or someone's managed to tag me with sea stone prism and I don't actually have access to said powers." I said as I fired my next shot. Glancing over as yet another can began swinging, I said "Plus, I learned how to shoot when I was with the Boy Scouts and it seems like a waste to let a skill get rusty to the point of being worthless."

Usopp hummed at that and said "Fair enough." before he put in his next cartridge and fired. A moment later he let out a triumphant "HA!" As he middled his latest can and said "Finally!"

"Good job, see if you can keep it up." I said as my next shot hit the ninth can, rather high but still on the line.

"Oh that'll be easy now that I've got the hang of this." Usopp bragged as he reloaded and fired. Sure enough, the tenth can was middled as it was shot off the figure head.

We each fired one last shot before we got up and made our way over to the figure head. Leaping up, I pulled the cans up by their strings and set them down in two groups. After studying where each shot had landed in relation to the aiming lines I tsked and said "Looks like you beat me by one shot."

"Yes!" Usopp said, pumping his right fist with a grin.

"Yeah, yeah." I said with mock grudgingly before I cocked my head and said "So, another round?"

Usopp's grin was reminiscent of the grin Zoro gave me before we started fighting on the island earlier that week.

Time Skip: The Next Day After Lunch

I was hanging up about a mile high in the sky over the Baratie and Merry, 'lounging' on my stomach while kicking my feet and idly watching the various customer ships coming and going beneath me. Ostentatiously, I was keeping an eye out for a certain pirate group. Really though, I was feeling crowded only having the Merry and part of the Baratie to wonder around in. Just having all of the open air around me seemed to cure my sudden wanderlust so I simply chocked it up to a quirk of being an Air Logia. Absentmindedly spinning my right hand to generate a spinning current, I had a sudden thought and blinked before I shifted into a crossed leg sitting position. Holding my right palm in a cupping position, I spun my left pointer finger around the palm. As the wind began whipping around in a small circle fast enough to begin whistling, I grinned and thought 'Oh, now there's an idea...'

Time Skip: Three Days After Arrival To Baratie, Morning

Usopp and I were in the area he had claimed as a workshop working on a new mixture for his exploding stars, using my phone's access to the internet to make a mix of chemicals that Usopp was already calling his Hellfire Star. He may or may not have started cackling like an evil genius as the list was composed. Given that _thermite_ was one of the components, I felt like letting out a cackle of my own once or twice.

However, our science lab time was cut short when Usopp suddenly looked up from the chemicals he was mixing with an alarmed look.

"What is it Usopp?" I asked with a questioning frown.

"I'm picking up something large coming towards the restaurant, but the people on it feel _really_ weak, and not in the strength sense, more like on death's doorstep kind of weak. I think it's those Krieg Pirates you were sure were coming." Usopp said. The kid began storing the chemicals we were working with as he said "As much as I want to stay down here where it's safe, I'd rather see the danger so that way I can at least move out of the way."

"That's the spirit!" I said clapping him on the shoulder before we headed above decks. In my head though I was thinking 'Given the state of these guys, this is either going to be anticlimactically easy or a rather tough fight. Given Anime Logic is in play, I know which one I'm betting on.'

END

Author's Notes: Sorry for the delay on this one, with mom gone for the week, I had to go to the library for spell checking purposes. The Library was closed both Veteran's day and the day after and I had a dentist appointment after work the day after. I hope the chapter was worth the wait, Tyrant of the Sea is the next story I'll be working on.


	7. Chapter 7

7\. Still Just A Flesh And Blood Human

Story Start: The Baratie

Usopp and I picked up Zoro on our way off the Merry and the trio of us filed into the dining hall of the Baratie. As we filed in, we were greeted by the sight of Gin coming in with a large man's arm over his shoulders saying "Please, feed him! We have money this time!"

"Am I the only one not liking what their Observation Haki is telling them about that big guy?" Usopp asked the pair of us.

"It's not just you, I can practically taste the treachery he's exuding." I said with a frown, pulling my glider staff off of my back, holding it loosely but ready in my right hand.

Zoro's hands tightened on the hilts of his swords even as he grinned and said "Well I personally welcome a good fight."

"You would." Usopp and I said together. We traded a glance with each other then turned our focus back forward as Patty began going on about that being Krieg and how he could never be trusted and to call the Marines since they'd never get a better chance to catch the bastard. He was interrupted by Sanji kicking him out of the way, a plate of food in his hand.

Once placed on the floor in front of him, Krieg fell on the food eagerly. I took advantage of his distraction to slip closer, something Zoro mimicked a moment later. Usopp meanwhile made for the stairs, pulling out his slingshot as he did so. Luffy noticed us shifting forwards and, idiot savant that he was in all things battle related moved to be in a more forward position rather than off to the side as well.

The moment Krieg was done eating, he stood up and moved to lariat Sanji. Before he could I appeared behind Sanji in a burst of wind, left arm wrapped around his waist and pulling him out of the way in another burst of wind. The moment we were out of the way Luffy nailed Krieg in the face with a punch. Krieg fell back on his rear clutching at his face in pain as Luffy pulled his fist back and said "That's not very nice, attacking the person who just fed you."

"You god damned brat!" Krieg roared out as he sprung back to his feet. He gave a flex of his body and his clothes were shredded revealing him in gold colored armor that made him look much more bulky than a moment ago.

I blinked in stupefied shock and asked "How the hell-?"

Krieg, asshole that he was, didn't bother telling me how he had managed that bit of anime bullshitery. Instead, he pulled a pair of pistols out and his shoulder pauldrons and two armor panels at his ribs popped open revealing multiple gun barrels. An instant later, Krieg cut loose on Luffy who took all of the shots directly to the chest. Krieg's smirk of satisfaction fell at the same time Luffy's own smug smirk appeared as our captain let out a small "Heh" before flexing and shooting the bullets back at Krieg as he shouted "THAT WON'T WORK ON ME!"

Eyes widening, I shouted "Hit the deck!" The next instant, the bullets ricocheted off of Krieg's armor and everyone else in the dining area dropped to the floor, Usopp letting out a squawk of fear as he jumped up and did a split to avoid a bullet that almost got him in the unmentionables. There was one bullet that came in my direction but I merely let my right shoulder turn intangible as it passed by before resolidifying it.

Soon as the bullets passed, I said "Right then, EVERYONE WHO DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO FIGHT GET OUT OF HERE!"

The customers were more than willing to follow that order, more than one letting out an (in my opinion) pointless scream as they all ran out the back. In order to make sure Krieg didn't take a pot shot at any of their backs, I launched a hard packed blast of wind at Krieg's chest. Krieg's surprise as he was thrown back out the double doors by an invisible force made my day as I turned my gaze onto Gin and fisted my left hand, pushing it against my right cracking the knuckles of both as I said "Now to deal with your treacherous ass. Sanji gave you food when you were starving and how do you repay him? By bringing your leader here to attack this ship."

"I swear he promised me he wouldn't attack anyone!" Gin said, quickly standing up with his hands raised.

"And you actually believed him?!" Carne asked incredulously.

Before Gin could respond to that, Krieg let out a roar and came charging back through the doors with rage in his eyes. A wind blast to his legs knocked them out from under him and he face planted the dining room floor in a loud clatter of armor.

"Matt!" Luffy shouted drawing my attention to him. He was giving me a scowl as he said "Leave him to me, Captains fight Captains!"

I cocked my head then shrugged, making a 'he's all yours' gesture with my left hand. Luffy's scowl turned into a grin as he stepped forward only to pause as Zeff's voice called out "Now, now, let's not all be so hasty."

We all watched as he came down the stairs with a bag as big as he was and made his way over to the entrance. As he walked, he continued "After all, should you really be getting in a fight with the state of your ship and your crew, Don Krieg, defeated warrior of the Grand Line?"

As Zeff set the bag down, all of the chefs stared in shock, Carne saying "No way...even the Ruler of the East Blue couldn't make it there?"

"I'm not surprised." I said, and everyone in the room turned their attention to me as I crossed my arms and said "Trying to keep an armada of fifty ships together in that meteorological nut house of an ocean? Hell, were you even able to get them all past Reverse Mountain without crashing a dozen or so against each other as they went through the choke point? You would have needed Den Den Mushi on each ship for coordination, and most likely your own Adult to communicate through the Red Line. Course, that's not taking into account all of the currents merging into one that your navigators would have to deal with." I then grinned viciously and finished "And let's not forget the giant ass Island Whale that's been hanging around the Twin Capes for the last fifty years. Going ten thousand feet downhill with ships as large as yours? That's a lot of speed, would have been pretty hard to avoid something that big with your giant ships." I then cocked my head as I said "Also, I sure hope you had Log Poses and weren't relying on plain old compasses to navigate that magnetic hodgepodge."

Gin clenched his eyes shut and put his hand over them, and Krieg gritted his teeth angrily as I spoke. When Gin's hand fell from his eyes and his gaze turned downwards and Krieg let out actual steam from his nostrils at the last of my little speech, I openly stared and asked "Are you fraking kidding me? You tried to navigate the Grand Line without Log Poses?!"

Zeff though seemed nonchalant as he said "The Grand Line tends to be the harshest with those who are overconfident and believe that it is like the Blues in any way other than the fact that it is an ocean made out of water." Gesturing at the bag of food, he continued "There is enough food in there for your men. I suggest you hurry and take it back to your ship before anymore dies. But remember, just because this is a restaurant doesn't mean that the staff doesn't know how to fight."

"Head Chef Zeff, you can't seriously be willing to feed the rest of these pirates?! Their Captain already attacked Sanji when he fed him and they'll do the exact same thing!" One of the other chefs cried out.

"Zeff?" Krieg asked with narrowed eyes before they widened as he said "You're Red Shoes Zeff!"

"That was my epitaph yes, what of it?" Zeff asked, his own eyes narrowing the smallest of fractions.

"Hmph, 'Red Shoes' Zeff. So you're alive. A unique Pirate, the Captain-Cook." Krieg said, a little bit of sweat coming down his face to mix with the blood from Luffy's punch to the face.

"So what if I'm alive. Now I'm a chef exclusively. What's it to you?" Zeff asked.

Krieg let out a bark of laughter as he said "Ha! You say it like it was a choice. But did you CHOOSE to be a cook...or was being a pirate too much for you? Looks like your red shoes days are behind you."

Krieg gave a pointed look at Zeff's peg leg before he looked back up at his face with a smirk and said "'Red Shoes' Zeff...master of the deadly kick, who never used his hands in battle. That awesome leg strength could smash bedrock and even leave footprints in steel. The blood of your enemies dyed your shoes hence your unusual nickname. They say you died at sea. I see you didn't lose your life...but you did lose one of your precious legs."

Zeff raised his hands up and said "I can't fight anymore, but I can cook, long as I have these two hands." He lowered his hands and his eyelids as he asked "What are you getting at? Spit it out."

Now grinning, Krieg said "Red Shoes Zeff...You once sailed that devil's nest, the Grand Line. But you returned unscathed. You kept a record of that voyage, a whole year's log. GIVE ME YOUR LOG-BOOK!"

"So Matt was right, you DID go to the Grand Line!" Luffy said with a grin.

Zeff side eyed Luffy and allowed a brief grin on his face as he said "Aye, I did." His eyes then turned forward and he frowned at Krieg as he said "My logbook, eh? Yes, I still have it. But I won't give it to you. For me and the men who sailed with me, that logbook is a testament. I won't give it to the likes of you!"

"**Then I'll take it from you!**" Krieg declared, clenching his fist as he continued "It's true that I didn't succeed on the Grand Line! But I am Don Krieg, the MIGHTIEST OF ALL! Weaklings do well to shun that dark route. But I had plenty of strength! Ships and Men! Ambition! The only thing I lacked was KNOWLEDGE! That's what stopped me! I just didn't know enough. I'll have that log...and this ship, too!" Pounding his fist onto his armor chest plate, he continued "I'll take Zeff's log, assemble another armada...capture the One Piece and lord it over this great Age of Pirates as the PIRATE KING!"

I couldn't help it, I threw my head back and hollered with laughter. As everyone around me stared in surprise, confusion, and in Krieg's case, rage, I wrapped my arms around my stomach (forcing Sanji to step to the side to avoid getting hit by my glider) and laughed hard enough I cried a little.

"WHAT IS SO FUNNY YOU IMPUDENT BUG!" Krieg roared.

I gave one last chuckle before I rolled my head to the side and looked at Krieg as I said "That would be you. You assume that a logbook covering ONE ship's journey of a year in the first half of the Grand Line will help you. IT WON'T. You think that the second half of the Grand Line is just like the first. IT'S _**WORSE**_. You think building another Armada, relying on quantity instead of _quality_ will help you. IT **WON'T**. You think that you can stand up to any of the Yonko. YOU _**CAN'T**_. You think that you can take on the full might of the Marines. YOU _**CAN'T**_."

Turning my head to its proper orientation, my eyes turned hard as I said "You who hides behind armor, manpower, and trickery could never hope to stand at the top. You claim to have 'Ambition', but you're no Conqueror, merely a frog that decided he was too large for the well he was born in." I then smirked and said "But what happened when you left that well? You got attacked by a _HAWK_ that knocked your slimy ass back into the well where you belong."

"YOU IMPUDENT BUG, I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT I CAN DO!" Krieg yelled, all of his guns coming back out as he fired on me. The storm of bullets were all on point. They just...never reached said point. Everyone stared as the bullets hung in midair a foot in front of me swirling around in circles thanks to the miniature but rapidly rotating tornado that they were caught in.

Eyeing them with a sigh, I said "Guns, so uncivilized." (Behind me, Usopp choked on his laughter, remembering the Star Wars Marathon we Straw Hats had last night.) The tornado then stopped and the bullets fell to the floor as I said "You're bullets are just like you_ Don_. Weak." When one of the bullets rolled towards my foot I idly kicked it away as I continued ""I think I know why you rely on twelve barrels, it's because you know that a single bullet won't be enough when you fire it."

Gaining a grin fit to grace the Joker's lips, I said "You can't even handle a baby Logia who had his devil fruit for six months and you think you can take on Marine Admirals who have had their Logias for _decades_? Don't make me laugh. Oh wait, too late for that."

Beads of sweat went down Krieg's face before he put on a facade of nonchalance. Grabbing the bag of food, he put it over his shoulder and said "Now listen carefully, all of you. I'll give you a chance. I'm taking this food to the men on my ship. Then I'm coming back. Anyone who doesn't want to die had better be gone when I return. All I want is the Captain's Log and the ship." Turning around and beginning to walk out, he continued "But if you're eager to die...wait for me. I'll bury you at sea. It's your choice."

As he left, I snorted and said "See what I mean, hiding behind manpower."

"Indeed Carpenter." Zeff said with an upward twitch of his lips.

By my side, Sanji muttered "Thanks." When I gave a hum of confusion, he said "For keeping Krieg from hitting me earlier."

"Oh that, you're welcome." I said with a quick shrug before I turned to look back at the stairs as Usopp said "Man Matt, you've really got giant brass balls don't you?"

I snorted and said "Usopp, don't tempt me to play AC/DC just before a fight, I doubt no one else will appreciate it."

Usopp spitted a bit as he tried to hold back a laugh before failing. Luffy let out a laugh of his own while Zoro rolled his eyes. All of the chefs looked confused, as did Gin who was still kneeling on the floor.

After a moment, Gin discarded his confusion and turned his head down again as he said "Sanji, forgive me! I didn't think he would do this! I...I..."

"It's not all your fault, Swabby." Zeff said, causing Gin to look up and let out a confused "Huh?"

As the chefs also looked at him, the old Captain said "The cooks helped to bring this on us, as well."

"Chef! Are you siding with Sanji? You crazy?!" Patty asked.

"He's the guy who started all this trouble!" Another chef said quickly followed by another that said "Sanji wants to destroy your precious restaurant!" Turning to point accusingly at Sanji, he continued "Don't you Sanji?! You'd do anything to be the head chef!"

"Either that or you're insane. Which is it?!" Another demanded.

"SHUT UP, YOU EGGPLANTS!" Zeff yelled, causing all of them to fall silent as Zeff continued "Has any of you ever really been hungry before? Have you gone for days without food and water on the high seas? Do you have any idea what agony that is?!" As Zeff spoke, Sanji lowered his head and lit a cigarette, his visible eye shadowed.

"Huh? So what, Chef?" Patty asked.

"If you're gonna keep moaning then just head out the back door!" Zeff declared, pointing a thumb over his shoulder.

Patty's grip on his fork weapon that had mysteriously appeared in his hands at some point in the last couple of minutes tightened and he said "I'll stay and fight. I can't stand to let Krieg have his way."

The other chefs all held their own mysteriously appearing super sized utensil weapons as well as another said "Me neither! This restaurant is my home!"

"Yeah! I got nowhere else to go!" Another chef said.

"Are you guys crazy?! You won't be able to fight off the Don and all of his men once they recover!" Gin declared.

"I beg to differ. Especially since they have one Paramecia, one Logia, one Santoryu user, and a Sniper on their side." I said with a grin, a grin that Luffy matched with a clenched fist. Zoro's grin was a lot more blood thirsty as he gripped one of his swords. A glance at Usopp showed that his knees were shaking but he was still standing in his spot on the stairs, and he still had his slingshot in his right hand. Seeing me looking at him, he gave me a shaky thumb's up with his left.

Sanji let out a huff of amusement, causing a large smoke cloud to leave his mouth. Sitting down on a nearby table and crossing his left leg over his right knee, he took the cigarette out of his mouth as he said "Gin...Listen to me. As a cook, I consider it my duty to feed the hungry. But soon I'll be facing plunderers with full stomachs. So if I have to beat your mates to death, don't complain. If they try to take over this ship I'll slaughter them without mercy, and that goes for you, too. Got That?"

Gin let out a gulp and Patty let out a 'hmph' as he said "First you save 'em then you kill 'em? Good idea, Sanji."

"Be quiet, crap-cooker." Sanji retorted.

Luffy let out a quiet Shishishi at the byplay before he turned his gaze back to Gin and said "By the way, Gin..."

"Aye?" Gin asked, looking towards the rubber man.

"You said you didn't know anything about the Grand Line. But you've been there!"

Gin looked down again, clutching at his head with both hands as he said "I know nothing. It's all a crazy fog. Something happened on our seventh day out. But was it a dream or reality? It's all mixed up in my head. He appeared so suddenly...JUST...ONE...MAN. HOW COULD ONE MAN SCUPPER 50 SHIPS?!"

As everyone in the room bar me and Zeff expressed their shock at his words, I let out a soft "Huh, guess he got all of his fleet through Reverse Mountain in one piece after all. Maybe the Island Whale wasn't there at the time." I then cocked my head in confusion and asked "Then why were they so upset when I mentioned it?"

"Could be some of their ships were clipped when it came to investigate so many coming down the mountain at once. After all, present doesn't mean UNDAMAGED." Zeff offered nonchalantly.

"Good point." I said with a nod.

"Are you two just going to ignore the fact that Krieg's armada was destroyed by one man?!" Usopp asked angrily.

Both Zeff and I shrugged as I said "Consider the fact that Whitebeard, one of the Four Emperors can sink an entire island with his Tremor Tremor fruit then ask us that again.

Usopp let out a wheeze at that but everyone's attention was drawn back to Gin as he continued "Before we knew it our ships were sinking, one after the other! If that storm hadn't come up...he'd have sent the flagship to the bottom, too! I'm not sure how many ships survived...It was terrible...I can't believe it was real! I don't want to remember that man! THAT MAN WITH THE PIERCING HAWK EYES, EYES THAT COULD KILL WITH A GLANCE!"

I noticed Zoro's hand on his sword tightened as he got confirmation on the intel I had received from the Marines a few days ago. Usopp let out a loud gulp while Luffy grinned, his eyes glimmering in interest.

Zeff glanced at us out of his eye with an eyebrow raised even as he said "It had to be HIM, had to be Hawk-Eye. You said his eyes were like a hawk's. That's proof enough. But what he did to your ships...It had to be **HIM**!"

"He's also the man I've been looking for. Johnny said he comes here." Zoro said glancing at Zeff in a questioning manner.

"I still say that I SERIOUSLY doubt that." I said with a frown.

"Well, don't know about old "Hawk-eye"..," One chef started before the rest of the chefs continued

"...But 'Old Red-Eyes' was here."

"Aye, he drank so much wine his eyes turned red."

"Then the fool caught fire and exploded!"

"Yeah, what a sight."

Anger flashed in Zoro's eyes as he said "That sea snake! He lied to me!"

"Less lied, more got a couple of names mixed together I think." I said with a 'what can you do?' shrug.

Zoro let out a deep sigh and said "Yeah, I guess so."

"So he beat the whole armada. Did you do something to make him mad?" Sanji asked Gin.

"Not that I know of! He just attacked!" Gin said.

"Maybe you interrupted his nap." Zeff said.

"**That's not funny! He murdered my crewmates!**" Gin shouted.

"I don't think he was joking." I said, eyeing Zeff.

"I wasn't. That's the kind of place the Grand Line is." Zeff said.

"Sounds fun, a place where anything can happen!" Luffy said, literally shaking with excitement.

Usopp gave him an angry look and said "Please, for once think of the danger!"

Zoro grinned and said "Now I know where I have to go. To the Grand Line. That's where I'll find HIM!"

Sanji took a deep drag of his cigarette before blowing out the smoke cloud and said "You're fools. You'll both be killed as soon as you get there."

"Maybe." Zoro said with a shrug before he continued "But don't insult us. The day I decided to be the World's Greatest Swordsman I gave myself up for dead. Nobody calls me a fool but me. I have my reasons."

Luffy grinned and put a hand on his straw hat as he said "Me too. If I want to be the Pirate King then I can't let a silly thing like a dangerous ocean stop me. Plus, I made a promise on this hat to a very important person who's waiting for me there."

Sanji eyed them for a moment before he looked away with a mutter of "Stupid."

Zeff though let out an amused "Heh" before turning back to me with a raised eyebrow and asked "What about you Carpenter?"

"Me?" I asked with a grin, spinning my staff in a circle then holding it across my shoulders with my hands idly resting on it as I continued "I don't really have some great ambition to work at, I'm just here to enjoy the ride."

Zeff let out a hum at that but our attention was grabbed by Patty as he said "You lame brains! Do you realize what kind of trouble we're in!? Right out there, them sea-wolves are reviving themselves ABOARD PIRATE ADMIRAL DON KRIEG'S GALLEON! They're the most savage pirates in the Easter Seas! If you wanna dream, do it after this crisis is over!"

Punctuating his words, there was a massive roar outside as the Krieg Pirates celebrated there salvation.

We all tensed ready to repel them but before the Pirates could get off their ship my Observation Haki hollered a warning at me and two wind blades sliced right through the galleon, cutting it in thirds as easily as a knife slicing through butter. As the ship began breaking apart under its own weight now that it had no structural support, and throwing up massive waves as it sunk in the process, Usopp chocked on his own spit and said "Guys, there's someone out there, and he's getting closer!"

I ignored Zeff ordering the cooks to weigh the Baratie's anchor and instead turned my gaze and Observation Haki to where the wind blades came from and copied Usopp as I choked on my own spit as well. The figure now in my metaphorical sights had an absolutely Titanic presence about him. That combined with the sword slash had me widening my eyes as I said "Ah _hell_, he's here."

"Then it seems that you were right Matt, my target HAS come to me." Zoro said with a blood thirsty grin.

Luffy though didn't care about that, instead running through the restaurant as he shouted "Forget about him! Nami, Johnny and Yosaku are still on the Merry!"

We all ran out to the entrance where Merry USED to be docked only to see the bounty hunter duo in the water struggling to swim aboard and no ship or navigator.

"Yosaku! Johnny! You Okay?! Where's our ship?! Where's Nami?!" Zoro shouted to them.

"Sorry Brother Zoro! They're gone! Sister Nami! She sailed off with all the treasure!"

Luffy quickly had the pair onto the deck and as the two bounty hunters explained what happened, I let out an angry scowl and my Observation Haki lanced out. A moment later, I locked onto Nami's signature. Snarl growing, I said "I've got her location!" As the others looked towards where I pointed with one hand, I glanced at Luffy as I said "I'll catch her and bring the ship back here. Once we deal with the Krieg pirates we can get some answers from her."

Luffy gave a sharp nod and said "GO!"

"Going." I said, taking a wind boosted leap up into the air before opening my glider and shooting out across the water at a high angle, leveling off at two hundred feet and adding more speed as I rushed after our ship. Once I was above the ship, I spotted Nami coming out of the kitchen and quickly turned myself into pure air so that way she didn't catch my shadow. As I made my way down, she went up to the forecastle and leaned slightly over the railing. I 'landed' behind her but paused from reforming when I heard the sound of crying.

A moment later, she said "What a swell bunch of guys. If we meet again...I hope they'll let me sail with them. I REALLY hope we meet again! I can't wait to be free, Bellemere!"

'Well now, isn't that both heartwarming and bone chilling.' I thought to myself. Clearly, Nami WASN'T simply conning me and the others into thinking that she was a part of our group and just waiting for an opportune moment to leave us hanging. Still, we were in the middle of a crisis right now and we needed our ship back. Until things had calmed down and she could explain herself, I'd have to do this the heavy handed way.

Seeping down through the boards of the ship into where we had stored the pallet of duck tape, I rematerialized and picked up a roll. Idly tossing it a couple of times in my hand, I looked up and thought 'She's probably going to hate me for this but I don't really have a lot of options right now.' Pulling the beginning of the tape loose, I turned back into air and went back up to the forecastle.

Rematerializing right behind Nami, I didn't give her even an instant to realize I was there. Instead, I grabbed her arms from the railing and pulled them behind her back. As Nami startled and began struggling she asked "WHAT THE?!" She then looked behind her and her eyes widened and her shock was great enough to stop crying as she asked "MATT?!"

Taping her wrists together then wrapping the tape first down over her hands then up to her elbows, I gave her a hard look and said "You disappoint me Nami, you steal a ship that has a Logia on its crew and you didn't think I would come after you?"

Nami continued to struggle as she said "Matt, let me go! I can't stay here!"

"Oh I heard." I said and she went still in shock only to begin struggling again as I dragged her away from the railing. Once I was far enough away that she wouldn't accidentally fall overboard, I knelt and forced her legs together where I taped her ankles together as I continued "I'm sure that it's QUITE the story to tell but you chose the absolute WORST time to pull this stunt." I soon had the lower bit of tape wrapped around her legs up to just below her knees.

Standing up, I pulled one last strip of tape off of the roll and spun her around, she gave one last plea that I silenced, putting the tape over her mouth. Smoothing it with my thumbs, I held her face in my hands and gave her a disappointed look as I said "You know what the worst part about all of this is? You didn't trust us enough to ask for our help."

Nami looked away in silence before she yelped as my hands shifted and I quickly searched her, removing her collapsible bo staff as well as a knife and anything else that I thought she could use to cut herself free. As she squirmed under my hands, I said "Sorry about this, but I can't take any chances you'll get free and run again."

Once I was sure that she wasn't going to be able to get free, I picked her up and placed her over my shoulder to carry her off of the forecastle. Nami thrashed about as I carried her down the steps and over to the main mast, but I bore it patiently as I placed her against the mast. She only struggled harder when I put the end of the tape roll on her stomach then threw the roll to the side, the roll quickly going around the mast then back to my hand like a boomerang as it was carried by a burst of wind. I did this two more times, once at knee height then at shoulder height.

Tearing off the last strip, I sighed and said "There, that will hold you until we have time to get answers." Lightly patting her left cheek with my right hand, I walked past her back up to the Forecastle and grabbed her gear before dematerializing and zipping over to the kitchen in a burst of wind where I left her things in a convenient bucket. Coming out, I leapt over the railing to land back on the deck and gave Nami a cheeky grin as I said "Try not to panic too much during this next part alright?"

"HMM?" Nami asked with confusion in her eyes only for her to widen them again as the wind began circling the ship and it lurched a little as the wind pushed against the sides quickly turning us around. Soon as we were in proper position, the ship lurched a little the other way as the wind pushed against the opposite parts of the ship than it had before. The main sail then snapped to its full extension as one last wind rapidly blew into it causing the Going Merry to leap forward back to the Baratie at a much faster clip than when she had left her much bigger companion for the last few days.

Deciding to play things safe, I began slowing the Going Merry when we were within five hundred feet of the ship and dropped anchor at four hundred feet. Quick walking out of the anchor room (I wanted to be SURE the anchor chain was locked) I quickly moved back to Nami's position.

Her head was down and she was crying again. Lifting her head up with a gentle hold on her chin, I stared into her eyes and said "For what's it's worth, while the others were quite mad with you trying to leave like this, I think that if you just explain whatever it is that is going on, they'll come back around." I then ruffled her hair with the hand that had raised her head before I dematerialized and zipped overboard and rapidly shot across the water.

Reaching the Baratie, I zipped up over its roof and took a moment to see what was going on only to panic at the sight of Dracule Mihawk stabbing Zoro in the chest with a small but clearly no less dangerous knife.

I rushed forwards and managed to get close just as Mihawk asked "Are you just going to let me pierce your heart? Why aren't you withdrawing?"

"I don't know why." Zoro said, not moving an inch as he continued with blood coming out of his mouth "I don't know why, but...if I withdrew even a step, I feel like those various important things such as pledges and promises in the past will be shattered, and I won't be able to come back to where I am now..."

"Yes, that's what defeat is about." Mihawk said.

Zoro let out a pained chuckle and said "Then, all the more reason I can't withdraw..."

"Even if you'll die?" Mihawk questioned.

"I'd rather die." Zoro said resolutely.

Mihawk was silent for a moment before he withdrew his knife, stepping back and putting its cover back on as he said "Kid! State your name."

Zoro moved his swords into a pinwheel formation and said "Roronoa Zoro."

Mihawk reached over his shoulder and said "I'll remember it." Drawing his sword, he continued "I haven't seen anyone like you in a while, strong one. Thus as a swordsman's courtesy, I'll sink you using the world's strongest black sword."

"I appreciate it." Zorro said and as Mihawk took his stance started spinning the two swords in hands in opposite rotations. The amount of focus needed to keep those two from hitting each other or cutting into his hand while spinning them at high speeds was incredible but futile in the end.

Mihawk launched himself forward as he called out "Fall!"

The next instant, he was past Zoro whose two unnamed blades shattered and blood spurted from a slash across his chest. Zoro dropped to a knee for a moment, discarding his now useless hilts and sheathing Wado Ichimonji. Then, he stood up and to my utter disbelief turned around with arms outstretched.

"What are you doing?" Mihawk asked in surprise.

Zoro grinned as he said "Scars on the back are a swordsman's shame..."

Mihawk matched his grin as he said "Well said." He moved to make one last swing at Zoro but before he could get any momentum in his downswing he was stopped by my staff held against his wrists, my right hand held between them, and the Haki black blade of my knife against the blade of his sword, held in a reverse grip in my left hand.

"MATT!" Johnny, Yosaku, Usopp, Luffy, and Zoro all yelled at once in surprise.

I ignored them all as I glared into the Warlord's eyes and said "That's ENOUGH! It's clear who the victor here is, I won't let you finish that swing, lack of killing intent or no."

Mihawk's eyes narrowed as he said "Careful there little sparrow. You may be a Logia but even you can still bleed."

"Yeah? Well you may be the World's Greatest Swordsman, but you're still just a flesh and blood human, and that means that you still need to breath." I said, and the wind that had been swirling around us picked up, whipping Mihawk's jacket around like a flag caught in a gale and tearing his hat off of his head as I continued "You might be able to take me out in an instant Dracule Mihawk, but the wind around us is on a tipping point. I loose concentration on it for one moment and it'll go into overdrive sucking all of the air out of this one spot creating a vacuum. And while Zoro will have quite a ride to look forward to you won't be able to breathe and as a bonus, your blood will boil as well so think VERY carefully about what you want to do with that sword of yours."

We had a tense stare off for ten seconds before Mihawk smirked and brought his blade back, immediately sheathing it as he said "Heh, well played, Sparrow." As the wind around us returned to normal he caught his hat as it flew past him and placed it back on his head.

I in turn put away my own weapons and glanced over my shoulder as Zoro angrily asked "Why did you do that?!"

"You're welcome." I said, moving away only to stop as Luffy rocketed over and glared at me as he said "Matt, why did you interfere?!"

I gave Luffy a hard stare and said "I will not stand around and allow one of my crewmates to get a debilitating injury after they have already lost a fight. I may not have sensed Killing Intent in that last swing but for all I know Mihawk was going to take out one of Zorro's eyes and that is most DEFINITELY not something I can patch up."

"So, you are this crew's doctor." Mihawk stated.

I glanced back at him and said "I'm not an actual doctor, but I _have_ been trained in emergency first aid so that way I can keep someone _alive_ until we can get them to one. Speaking of," I turned to where Usopp, Johnny, and Yosaku were standing on the Baratie's deck and called out "USOPP! GET ME THE FIRST AID KIT HANGING UNDER THE STAIRS OF THE DINING HALL!"

"Uh, right!" Usopp said, quickly running into the dining hall. He came back out less than a minute later and threw the kit like a Frisbee. I caught the kit in a tunnel of wind to ensure it reached me and once I had it in hand turned around, making my way over to Zoro. He glared at me and stubbornly crossed his arms over his wounds.

I gave him a glare of my own and said "Zoro, I don't HAVE to make a vortex to move all of the air out of a person's lungs, either you let me treat those wounds while you're awake or I'll do it while you're unconscious, your choice."

Zoro continued to glare at me for five seconds before he tsked and dropped his arms. I stepped closer and said "_Thank you_, now, unless you want me to rip that shirt further, take it off so that way I can work properly." A moment later, the shirt went through my torso and I thought 'Well that was petty of him.'

As I quickly worked to disinfect then sew up the stab and slash wound on Zoro's chest, Mihawk said to Luffy "You would be their Captain, correct?"

"Yeah, that's right." Luffy said.

Mihawk hummed and said "You did well to let him fight his own battle to the end."

"Uh, thanks." Luffy said slightly unsure.

I heard Mihawk huff in amusement before he said "And you Young Warrior, don't be in such a hurry to die." Hearing his coat flutter, I glanced back and saw Mihawk cross his arms, gaze locked on Zoro's as he said "_My name is Dracule Mihawk! Discover yourself. See the world! And grow strong! However long it may take...I shall await you at the top. Strive with your whole heart and mind to best my blade, fierce one! Strive to surpass me, Roronoa Zoro!"_

Thanks to my connection to the air, I heard Zeff ask "Why would Hawk-Eye say something like that?"

'Because he's found someone to be his successor.' I thought to myself even as I kept sewing the slash wound, Zoro not even flinching as I repeatedly pierced his flesh with the sewing needle.

Zoro inclined his head, grinning savagely as he said "I shall do so. I'll try not to keep you waiting too long."

"Hmph, I look forward to it." Mihawk said with a grin before he turned to Luffy and asked "Lad, what is your goal?"

"TO BE KING OF THE PIRATES!" Luffy declared and I felt a shimmer of what I just KNEW had to be his nascent Conqueror's Haki lightly pulse inside of him with my Observation Haki causing me to smirk as I cut the knotted end of the sewing string with my knife.

Turning around, I saw that Mihawk probably felt it as well given his grin as he said "You tread a perilous path. Even more perilous than trying to surpass me."

"I DON'T CARE! THAT'S WHAT I'M GOING TO BE!" Luffy said and there was another pulse of _FACT_ from him.

Zoro grabbed all of our attention as he stepped away from me and drew Wado Ichimonji then said "Luffy, I probably worried you didn't I? If I fail to become the World's Greatest Swordsman, you'll be disappointed, right!? **NEVER AGAIN! I WILL NEVER LOSE AGAIN! FROM NOW TO THE DAY I BEAT HIM TO BECOME THE GREATEST SWORDSMAN...**(I could feel the eager anticipation rolling off of Mihawk's form) _**I WILL NEVER LOSE AGAIN**_**!** GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT **KING OF THE PIRATES!?"**

"Nope, sounds good to me! SHISHISHI!" Luffy said with a smile that was big enough to close his eyes.

"Hm, those two make a good team." Mihawk mused to himself with a smirk before he turned his gaze to me and said "You have a lot to live up to, if you're going to be on their crew, Sparrow."

"Maybe, but they have their own catching up to do as well." I said, holding up my left forearm and clenched fist which turned completely black.

The sight of that earned a raised eyebrow from Mihawk before he turned around and strode toward his boat as he said "I hope to encounter you again someday young Pirate King, it should be quite interesting when you join me in the Grand Line."

The epic moment was ruined as Krieg leapt onto the piece of ship debris we were standing on as he said "Hey, Hawk-Eye! Didn't you come here for my head? For the head of Don Krieg, King of the Eastern Blue!?"

Mihawk barely deigned Krieg with a glance out of the side of his eye as he said "That was my intention. But I've had enough fun for now, so I shall head back home to take a nap."

Krieg cracked his neck handlessly as he said "You may have had enough, but I'm tired of getting beaten."

"D-Don?" One of his men asked, followed by another who asked "Why are you trying to keep him here?"

All of a sudden, all of Krieg's weapons were out and he shouted "Die before you leave!"

As he fired his weapons, Mihawk put a hand to the hilt of his large sword and said "You are indeed a slow learner." Mihawk swung his sword and the air pressure pulled the surrounding sea water up into a giant wave. Warned by our Observation Haki, I dematerialized while Luffy grabbed Zorro and grappled the two of them back to the railing of the Baratie. I returned back into solid form on the deck in front of the two and pulled Zoro across the railing so that way he didn't pull his stitches while Luffy climbed up on his own.

When the wave passed, Mihawk was gone and Krieg tsked as he said "Damn it, he escaped."

"He makes it sound like he stood even as much a chance against him as Zoro did." I muttered and Luffy let out a quiet laugh while Zoro let out a grunt of anger, pointedly putting a few feet between us.

At that moment Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku joined us and Luffy led us over to where Zeff and Sanji were standing. Grinning up at the Head Chef, Luffy asked "Hey, if I fight off all of the pirates for you I can go right?"

Zeff looked amused as he said "Sure kid, beat up the pirates and I'll call us even."

'Called it!' I thought to myself with a smirk as we watched Krieg rallying his troops. The prelude was finished. Now the main event was about to begin...

END

And that's the last of the 'Branched Story' Zoro vs Mihawk fights. Some of you will no doubt wonder why I stepped in for this version and not the others. It's really quite simple, in Tailor, Mihawk told me to stay back while in Zaboomafoo, Luffy told me not to interfere. Here, no one told me that so I stepped in once it was clear that the fight was over.

Now that that is covered, one last thing. There's a poll up on my profile page asking if I should go ahead and write the Krieg Pirates fight for these three chapters or move onto the next story. It will be up for one week (5/20/20) so please cast your votes in a timely fashion. I'll be using that week to work on other projects that aren't on the roster. Until next time, Ja Ne!


	8. Chapter 8

8\. Smoke On The Water

Previously:

_At that moment Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku joined us and Luffy led us over to where Zeff and Sanji were standing. Grinning up at the Head Chef, Luffy asked "Hey, if I fight off all of the pirates for you I can go right?"_

_Zeff looked amused as he said "Sure kid, beat up the pirates and I'll call us even."_

_'Called it!' I thought to myself with a smirk as we watched Krieg rallying his troops. The prelude was finished. Now the main event was about to begin..._

Now: Baratie

Carne and Patty quickly ran into the restaurant and then to the front where the fish head was. I raised an eyebrow as my Observation Haki tracked them but brought my attention back outside as Sanji said "At this rate, the ship will become a battlefield." Turning to one of the cooks, he continued "Go to the operating room and open up the fins."

"What? Open the fins? That's gonna give a foot hold to the enemy!" The chef said.

"No, Sanji's right. If you fight inside then the fight will inevitably wreck the interior of the ship. And while it's one thing for a wall to get a hole knocked out, we can't take the chance of your kitchen getting damaged. I had a look inside and those are _gas_ stoves you use, rupture the lines and we're going to have problems." I said with a frown.

The chef flinched at that but still looked at Zeff for confirmation. But at the Head Chef's nod he quickly sprinted back inside. A few moments later, a grinding sound came from below decks and the fins rose, pushing the closest Krieg pirates in the water away with the waves they generated as they came up before they stopped with a loud slam sound, a hole in the fin the perfect size to go around the small slip of a dock that was already extended past the ship's railing.

Luffy and Usopp had stars in their eyes as they said together "_Oooh, that's amazing_!"

"Yeah, pretty impressive, bet it makes steering a hassle when they're down though." I said with a nod.

"Oh, you have no idea." One of the chefs muttered earning nods from the others around him.

As me and the Chef had been talking about steering troubles, Luffy had Johnny and Yosaku bring Zoro into the restaurant. Zoro TRIED to say that he could still fight but for once Luffy was acting like a RESPONSIBLE Captain and wasn't having it. Zoro walked into the ship with a rather severe glower and grumbling about how just because he had been stabbed over the heart didn't mean he couldn't fight anymore. Johnny and Yosaku both promised that they would do their best to keep him inside before following.

I was drawn away from thinking about difficult maneuvering conditions by the sound of latches coming undone from the front of the ship. Looking in that direction, I saw the fish head moving forward revealing that it was a rather large paddle boat complete with a fin that moved forward once it was clear of the Baratie. Amusingly enough, there was an awning over Carne and Patty's head as they pedaled the boat. Less amusing and more practical were the three cannons now sticking out of the fish's mouth.

Patty loudly laughed as the pair turned the boat towards the Krieg pirates and said "Behold Krieg Pirates! The Mackerel 1!"

The pair of sea cooks began shooting at the pirates that were still on the Galleon debris or in the water near said pieces of broken ship. It SEEMED like an effective strategy, and even made the pirates by the fin pause from beginning to climb up to boot, but then the pair made the most unwise decision to not only shoot at Krieg but get within arm's reach as well.

When the smoke cleared, Krieg had his left hand raised seeming to be without a scratch and he used that hand to pick up the Mackerel by the barrel of the middle cannon. Glaring at the small vessel trapped by his single hand, he shouted "I am Don Krieg! The man who will conquer the world's sea! I don't have time to play these games!" He then let out a roar of exertion as he lifted the metal boat that was easily four times taller than him up one handed before throwing it over his shoulder. Though seemingly against his wishes to take the ship intact, that sent the Mackerel straight towards the Baratie.

One of the chef's shouted "Oh no, the ship will be destroyed!"

"I've got it!" I said, quickly moving to in front of the Mackerel's flight path. A hard blast of wind stopped the Mackerel's forward motion and a tightly controlled funnel of high speed wind allowed the Mackerel to land on the water soft enough that the paddles didn't snap off. Floating down to where Patty and Carne were gripping the controls with wide eyes, I asked "You two alright?"

"Y-yeah/T-thanks." The two got out.

"Maybe you should avoid Krieg for the rest of this fight." I suggested.

"Uh yeah, we'll do that." Carne said with a shaky grin.

Patty's grin had a lot more teeth as he said "That still leaves several more of his men to deal with." With a laugh, Patty paddled backwards turning the Mackerel around and the pair quickly paddled away to continue their attack on the mooks.

Shaking my head, I decided that those two had the right idea and dematerialized, reforming in front of where some big chested dude decked out in pearl bossed shields and a shield helmet was standing on a largish piece of wreckage. He was making for the water with several more Krieg Pirates behind him but they all stilled when I reformed in front of them with my hands in the pockets of my jacket. Grinning at them, I said "You know, when you run into someone with specialized equipment in a group like this, it means either two things: either a, the guy with the special equipment is something special or b, the guy's overcompensating. I wonder which one it is with you."

"I assure you it's the former." The pearl shield guy said in an accent that made it sound like he was trying to be all 'sophisticated' and such but instead came off sounding ridiculous. Smirking, he held up his right hand and said "My name is Pearl, the Iron Wall of the Krieg Pirates! Whenever someone says the word 'Defense' they are talking about me! I have never been defeated in any of my last sixty one battles, indeed I have not even been wounded _once_!"

"Is that so?" I asked before I smirked and said "Then I suppose you won't mind if I test that claim."

Pearl spread his arms in invitation and said with a smug smirk "Not at all, in fact I'll even give you one free shot to my torso with your best move."

Tempting as it was to decapitate him with a wind blade given how he didn't have any kind of protection around his neck, I decided to go with a bit of showmanship for this. Cupping my right hand, the air over it started to swirl in on itself as I said "I only got this working last night but if you're willing to offer yourself as a testing dummy then I'd be crazy to let that opportunity pass me by."

Pearl's right eyebrow twitched at being called a dummy but his smug smirk remained in place as he said "Well maybe instead of talking about this mysterious technique you should begin it."

"Oh, I already have, Air Logia and all that." I said and the spinning wind kicked into overdrive causing my coat to begin flapping in the omnidirectional gale it was generating. I gained a wicked grin and projected my Armament Haki into the invisible sphere of destruction and all of the Krieg Pirates jerked back in surprise as they could finally see the currents of wind being constantly spun around a central point. The next instant, I shot forward through the few feet seperating Pearl and I with a cry of "RASENGAN!"

The giant pearl on the chest shield was instantly powderized when the Haki infused sphere of wind slammed into it. The metal of his shield let out unholy screech as it was shaved away. Soon as I made contact with flesh, I destabilized the sphere and Pearl was thrown back from the blast of wind, knocking out all but three of the pirates behind him with his large torso and lanky limbs. He had an inch deep depression carved into his torso from the attack. If I hadn't ended the technique when I had, I probably would have gone right up to my elbow before stopping.

Groaning as he sat up, Pearl shakily put a hand to the wound on his chest and said "You...wounded me."

"Yeah, well, consider yourself Lucky that I like having clean clothes. I could have kept the attack going longer but I didn't want to ruin my jacket. Blood takes FOREVER to get out, especially if it has time to settle." I said, brushing my left hand down the right sleeve of said jacket.

Pearl's earlier smug look was now replaced with fear as he said "This guy is dangerous." Getting up onto his feet, he began clapping his hand shields together as he said "I'm in danger, Danger, DANGER!"

"No Pearl, calm down please!"

"It's just a flesh wound Pearl!"

"Don't do it Pearl!"

The Krieg Pirates behind Pearl were beginning to look scared themselves. I found out why when an instant later Pearl somehow lit himself on fire, the flames an intense bluish white that immediately set the piece of ship debris we were standing on top of on fire.

As the Krieg pirates behind him desperately swatted at their clothes which were also catching fire, Pearl laughed and said "With these shields of fire I am invulnerable! Even the most apex of predators fears fire!"

Pearl laughed even more before I cut him off with "You know, this is just giving me more to work with in this fight right?"

"Eh?" Pearl asked, his laughter cut off in confusion.

Holding up my right fist, I said "In order for regular fire to burn, it needs three things: an Ignition Source, Fuel, and Oxygen." As I spoke, a finger went up for each requirement. Grinning, I said "You ever so helpfully provided the ignition, there's a destroyed Galleon around us that will provide plenty of fuel, and with us being on the sea there's plenty of Oxygen around us." I then chuckled and said "And being an Air Logia means I can control how large the fire gets, and help it get across the ocean seperating the fire from all of that fuel that's just waiting for a spark."

"No, no way!"

"He's lying right?!"

"Oh, this is BAD!"

I cackled at their words of fear and disbelief before I burst apart into wind. Wind which rapidly grew into a twenty foot twister that caused the flames to flare up into the sky. At the top of the twister the flames were scattered to all of the broken ship pieces on the right side of the battlefield. (Patty and Carne were still wreaking havoc on the left) Small twisters forming on those pieces soon had the fires roaring into infernos there and the air filled with the screams of Krieg Pirates. The majority of them made breaks for the ocean but even that didn't save them as I turned all of the twisters into a single massive spinning disc of burning wind that roared its might even as it turned the water underneath to steam as the fire rapidly raised the water temperature to 216° Fahrenheit.

When I finally snuffed out the raging inferno three minutes after making it, Pearl was a charbroiled skeleton, pearls all black and cracked and shields all completely black from the scorching though otherwise serviceable. (I made a note to secure the shields for Zoro and the bounty hunters to practice cutting metal on.) Pearl wasn't the only skeleton on the debris either, I had caught a good twenty seven pirates out of the water, and there were at least two dozen bodies floating in the ocean, boiled alive. The remaining few pirates that had escaped my AOE attack all had extremely painful burns covering the entirety of their bodies as they struggled to climb up on the pieces of Galleon that had remained flame free.

I left them for Carne and Patty to deal with, the pair's rate of fire having dropped to almost nothing, both due to shock at the firestorm but also because they too had been busy taking out Krieg Pirates. The pair quickly targeted the survivors well out of range of Krieg's reach, not that he seemed to be targeting their boat at the moment.

I realized why a moment later when Krieg shouted "ENOUGH OF THIS!" The shield that had been attached to his left hand (With barrels around the rim and an ammo belt showing that it was some kind of repeating weapon) opened the mouth of his jolly roger painted on it and he continued "IT'S TIME I KILLED ALL OF YOU BASTARDS ONCE AND FOR ALL!"

"THE MH5!" One of the surviving Krieg Pirates shouted and all of them, even Gin who had been fighting Sanji at that point pulled out gas masks.

Well, it didn't take a genius to know that whatever gas weapon Krieg was about to unleash was going to be nasty to deal with. Luffy was quick to snatch masks from two of the Krieg Pirates, one of which he gave to Sanji, while the regular chefs dived for the sea, Carne and Patty hauling Zeff into the restaurant and closing the doors, an action Usopp followed as he quickly entered from the second floor. All of that wound up being useless though.

Krieg fired the weapon, it traveled towards the Baratie, then hit a wall of wind, detonating. The gas didn't spread for more than ten feet though and Krieg shouted "WHAT?!"

Rematerializing beside the ten foot cube of gas, I tsked and wagged my finger as I said "Tsk, tsk, Krieg, I'm rather disappointed in you. You KNOW that the enemy has a wind elemental on their side and you STILL tried to use a gas weapon." The cube of gas shrunk down to a sphere the size of a basketball that I held in my left hand and I said "I'm EXTREMELY tempted to rip off that mask of yours and shove all of this down your throat right now, see how YOU like being poisoned." Krieg stiffening in fear had me smirking before I continued "But my Captain was clear, you're his."

Glancing over my shoulder, I asked "Captain, you guys good while I dispose of this stuff away from the battlefield?"

Luffy nodded as he said "We're good here Matt."

With permission to leave granted, I dematerialized, wrapping my 'self' around the sphere of gas then shot upwards. 21,000 feet up, I reached a jet stream and shoved the gas into it. The cloud instantly shot away into the distance, rapidly spreading out even as it quickly fade from sight. This high up outside of the Grand Line there shouldn't be anything that the gas could effect before the wind completely diluted it to the point of being useless.

With the gas taken care of, I reformed my body and entered a free fall. At 74.96 m/s, it took me 286.895 seconds or 4 minutes and 48 seconds to reach sea level. It was apparently just enough time for Luffy to finish fighting Krieg because I got a bird's eye view of him popping his limbs out of the net he was trapped in and using his legs to spin Krieg like a propeller and slam him into the fin of the Baratie. As Luffy fell towards the water, I quickly grabbed him under the shoulders and stopped his descent as I said "You and I have two very definitions of 'good' Captain."

"SHISHISHISHI, Thanks Matt, I would have been in trouble if you didn't catch me!" Luffy said with that D shaped grin of his.

"Yes, you would have." I said, putting a small but fast tornado under Luffy so that way I could get the net off of him. Once he was free of it, I tossed him towards the Baratie then followed, the pair of us easily landing on the ship fin as I said "Well, this has been fun."

Luffy laughed but his laughter cut off as Krieg stood up with a roar and shouted with blank eyes "I am the strongest out there, no one can defeat me!"

"Oh shut up already." I grumbled, dematerializing one last time and reforming right next to him, slamming my blackened fist into his gut. Krieg dropped like a sack of potatoes, well and truly knocked out this time and I said "Someone get some chain to wrap this bastard in then call the Marines to pick him and the survivors up."

"Yes sir!" Two of the chefs said, complete with salutes before they ran into the ship.

I took a glance at said survivors of the Krieg Pirates, a paltry six regulars and Gin with an absolute BEAUTY of a shiner on his right eye, all seven of them just as knocked out as their captain and I shook my head as I said "Krieg REALLY should have just taken the food and left."

Luffy's stomach let out a loud roar and he laughed as he said "Speaking of food, I could really do with some meat right now!"

"Then come inside and let us make a plate for you Chore Boy." One of the chefs said with a grin earning a shout of happiness from Luffy as he ran inside.

I smirked at his eagerness but didn't follow him inside. Instead, I took a series of leaps up and over the Baratie then opened my glider to head back to the Merry. It was time we learned why Nami had tried to run away.

Author's Notes: Sorry for the delay on this branch of the group guys. The humidity in Sumter is a real energy drainer and I've been sleeping for several hours after work. But now this group of stories is done so I can move onto other settings.


End file.
